Fullbringer: Ascension
by Zanka no Tachi 31
Summary: (Complete (in progress) re-write of the original Fullbringer. Focuses solely on Ichigo's time in Heuco Mundo, with some minor crossover elements involving RWBY and Fate/Stay Night. Neither universe will play a major part in this fic however as is mentioned it is set in Heuco Mundo.) Stranded in a strange land Ichigo must find his way home through turmoil and fear.
1. Chapter 1

**So, a remake. First lot of chapters still felt like a child wrote them...because they were, and I was, but I'm not going to change it because I really don't want to redo another 50k words. I started this like two years ago and stopped. It's still better than the original in my opinion, but it could be better. Don't expect frequent updates to this fic.**

* * *

**CH1:**

Ichigo's pale hand shivered as the tiny nine-year-old fingers reached out to the next branch of the petrified tree. Grabbing on, Ichigo pulled himself up with a mighty heave and looked back down over the tree branch that held little Ichigo forty metres above the ground, or at least he thought it was the ground. He didn't really know considering it looked like there was a ceiling with holes in it. Did the floor have holes? Or was this truly the ground just below him.

Streams of dried up tears remained on his face, having long run out of any tears to actually cry. Blood coated his knuckles and the front of his shirt, making it have a rather unpleasant smell to it.

This had to be a dream. The stuff of nightmares.

One moment Ichigo was walking along the riverbank, the next had his mother atop him and he was lying on cold hard ground. Or rather, Ichigo had seen a little girl…or…at least he thought it was a little girl standing next to the raging river. After that, everything was blank, except for the part where he woke up with his dead mother atop of him. None of it made any sense, not to him anyway.

* * *

_"Mum." Ichigo's dazed voice made itself known in the darkness that enveloped him._

_There was no response._

_That was when Ichigo first registered the warm liquid and flesh atop him when his mother failed to respond._

_Ichigo grunted a little as he pushed his mother off of him to try and get a better look at what had happened. His mother had probably just fallen asleep after all._

_The moment Ichigo's mother's body was rolled off of him the sudden brightness assaulted his eyes like a sudden flash and searing pain to his retinas. Blinking the spots out of his eyes and rubbing them a few times Ichigo took a quick look around, quickly noting the alien atmosphere of the barren environment around him. A few outcroppings made themselves noticeable in the thin streams of light that appeared to dot the ground every fifty metres or so._

_That was when he heard the noise._

_In his daze of looking at the unfamiliar environment around him and his mother he had almost forgotten the terrible noise that had come before he had blacked out and his mother lay atop him. A screeching roar echoed throughout the forest of petrified trees, which caused him to start shaking subconsciously. It was the same sound that had come from the girl he had tried to rescue from drowning in the river. Right before she vanished and the shadow of a monster appeared. A monster that his mother protected him from…_

_His breathing stopped for all of a moment as his eyes snapped back around to where his mother lay. Where his dead mother lay._

_It came out in the faintest of whispers at first, a quite and unseemly "No." echoed around him. The second time however was much louder, "NO!" Ichigo's cries echoed deep into the forest surrounding him as he stared as the jagged hole that pierced his mother's abdomen through to the other side in a single stroke._

_A part of him wished to scream to his mother as loudly as he could to try and wake her up but the words would not form, could not form. It was as though there was something physically stopping him from doing so. Was it fear, anger, sadness, betrayal for his mother leaving his side in this strange place, only to leave her body behind as a remembrance to show him what he had failed to do?_

_In truth, all of these were a small part of the cause. It was something else. A pressure at the back of his mind. Something that he had never felt before manifest itself as another presence, another voice, telling him, forcing him to keep his mouth shut even as his throat ached to let the noise leave his mouth._

_**"No…no noise…hide…must hide."**_

_The voice made itself apparent in a warbled and broken tone, only bringing out a few words at a time as though speaking was a foreign concept to it and only knew how to be understood through a few words at a time._

_Naturally however, little Ichigo was not sure where exactly the voice was coming from, only that it compelled him to keep his mouth shut and wipe his eyes clean of the tears that had sprung forth the moment he had lain them on his mother._

_He was confused at first, then sad the next moment. Another moment later he was completely hysterical. The reason being that his right arm was moving completely by itself and his vision had blacked out in one eye._

_Why was his body moving by itself!? Why couldn't he see!? Why couldn't he speak!?_

_Looking out of his one good eye, Ichigo saw his arm reach over his mother hand grab her left wrist before yanking it forwards in a careless manner before pulling on what looked to be like a small bracelet with a pentacle attached to the chain._

_It was silver in colour and had a sapphire gem in the centre of the pentacle. The chain itself looked to be of a traditional chain link shape, all the way around until the two adjoining ends met with a small clasp that held both ends together rather securely._

_Ichigo's possessed hands reached forward and undid the clasp easily enough before dropping the lifeless arm of his mother to the side and sliding the bracelet onto his own wrist. He could have sworn he saw a flash of red energy spark from the gem as his hands did this._

_His arm raised itself and flexed the hand casually above his head jingling the chain casually before Ichigo's body moved again, rising to its feet and breaking into a clumsy looking run through the forest, the possessor clearly not used to manipulating a child's body to such an extent yet._

_Another roar echoed throughout the forest as Ichigo's body continued to move itself with a hysterical Ichigo sitting in the passenger seat. The cacophony of noises drew nearer and nearer. Soon enough even the ground began to tremble as what could only be described as monstrous beasts crashed into the small clearing, eager to get at whatever had appeared only moments ago._

_It was only through sheer willpower alone that Ichigo managed to turn his head enough to see the beasts instantly trample his mother's dead body and begin ripping into each other without a second thought as though all declaring at once, 'That's mine'._

_It only took the beheading of one monster before Ichigo's resistance to run stopped completely and the possessor took complete control of his body in an instant, breaking into a dead sprint to get out of there as quickly as possible. It was during this moment that Ichigo became almost completely catatonic, his right eye looking almost dead to the world around him and looking straight ahead even as his other eye seemingly moved of its own accord, taking in the environment around him._

_"**No!"**_

_The voice jolted Ichigo out of the state suddenly as it escalated in volume and urgency._

_"**No sleep! ...No sad! ...Forget!"**_

_The child like speech of the voice penetrated Ichigo's mind deeply causing his senses to heighten once more to the point he was taking in his surroundings of dead trees and stone ground. Only this time one of his hands was grasping the ridge of a tree's petrified bark and using it as a handhold with strength Ichigo did not know he possessed as he pulled himself up one hand at a time, now an appropriate distance from his landing spot._

_"Why?" Ichigo's voice croaked out, seemingly unrestricted now, unlike before._

_The voice didn't respond for a moment, probably wondering why Ichigo would ask such a question, the situation escaping its underdeveloped mind as it hauled Ichigo's body another few metres up the side of a tree._

_"…**Won't survive."**_

_The understanding was clear to most but the otherwise preoccupied Ichigo was confused._

_Sensing Ichigo's confusion through their link of the mind the voice continued._

_"…**Won't live…need to live…want to live…see family again."**_

_The voice attempted to push the image of his father and sisters into Ichigo's mind even as the grip of Ichigo's hand slackened on the tree greatly during the effort to do so._

_It was then Ichigo understood. He needed to stay alive, and the voice was helping him to do so even if he didn't know who owned the voice or where the voice was coming from exactly. His father and sisters would be sad without him and his mother. His mother was dead and could never return, but maybe he could. Maybe, just maybe he could see them again._

_Satisfied with Ichigo's improved stability the voice went completely silent and refocused on the tree climbing which had altogether ceased to happen during their short conversation due to the apparent need for the utmost sheer concentration required doing so._

_Once more Ichigo watched as his arms and legs began moving of their own accord once again, hand over hand, foot over foot._

_It was only in this very moment that Ichigo realised that his shoes and socks were missing in preference to the bare foot approach taken to climbing the tree. Apparently the voice had more coordination than he did with his own body as he noticed his big toe and the toe next to it wedge a ridge in between them and clench together to provide a better foothold. He would have never have thought of such a thing much less the thought of climbing so high straight up._

* * *

Ichigo scurried back to the foot of the branch, the thing being wide enough for Ichigo to lie directly across it and still have some room to spare above his head and below his toes.

For now, he felt so very tired. Tired from crying, tired from climbing with strength he didn't know he possessed, tired of being awake. Tired of everything.

"_**Sleep now…I watch."**_

The voice spoke once more telling Ichigo to rest while it looked out for him in his slumber.

Ichigo nodded to himself and the voice as his eyes began to droop closed even as the cold dead branch beneath him dug into his skin uncomfortably. He just didn't care anymore. This had to all be a dream after all.

"_**No dream."**_

Yes, that was it. Everything around him was all so very real. But why? He had never seen them before, those monsters that ate each other and people alike. So where was he exactly?

Unfortunately for Ichigo that would have to wait until morning when he awoke as his eyes finally closed, unable to keep them open any longer.

* * *

When Ichigo's eyes opened the next morning he was shocked once more that what had happened had not been a dream and that his mother truly was dead. A despairing fact that still shook Ichigo to the very core. However the effect seem far less prevalent than it had been yesterday. This was possibly due to the pressure he could still feel lingering at the back of his mind. It felt as though it was suppressing many of his emotions to a great extent even with its child like processing capabilities.

Sitting up Ichigo peered over the edge and saw below him much more clearly than what he had seen the day before. The ground along the landscape was pockmarked with outcroppings, craters, and small holes.

It wasn't until the voice in Ichigo's mind spoke up did he realise that there was something taking a stroll through the area.

"_**Breakfast."**_

The voice commented almost gleefully as it directed Ichigo's vision to a beastlike creature with a mask on its face. It appeared to have a hulking stature as it leaned forward heavily on its front two appendages that appeared to look like arms for the most part and were much larger than its hind legs. The rest resembled that of a gorilla.

The only problem with the gorilla shaped green beast was that its size was clearly at least three times larger than that of a normal gorilla and it had some rather nasty looking protrusions on its back that appeared to be spikes of some kind with squiggly lines drawn up the sides of each one to the very tip.

These spikes lay flat on its back and were packed together neatly so that there were no gaps in between each one. The overall shape of the area in which these spikes lay resembled that of a spade. A line coming down from the back of its cranium to then split in a 'T' like fashion to the sides and then go straight down just before reaching the shoulders and curving in just before the hips to meet at a tip just before a stub that could barely be considered a tail. The space in between the spade like structure was filled with more spikes.

Ichigo shivered once he had taken in the entirety of the beast and ducked back behind the edge of the branch when the beast stopped to pause and sniff the air for something.

"I can't eat that." Ichigo quivered in fear. "It'll eat me like they ate Mum."

It didn't seem like it at first but after the voice began its reply it was clear that it knew something like this was bound to happen despite its own zeal for the beasts corpse.

"_**Will protect you…will give you power…will grant me breakfast…must sustain existence."**_

The voice clearly wanted this meal, and badly if the way its voice seemingly shook with excitement was anything to go by.

"Power?" Ichigo questioned the voice. That was the only thing that really stuck out to him besides the breakfast part. If he had power he could do more. But what was power exactly?

There was no answer from the voice this time, only the images brought forth by the voices existence at the back of his mind, the images brought forth by the pressure.

His sisters giggling and smiling adorably, his father making a goofy smile as he acted up around his children, his best friend Tatsuki as he sparred with her at the dojo, his mother walking home with him. They were all shown to him in great detail. Yes, he wanted them back but why was the thing at the recess of his mind showing him these things exactly he was not sure of.

"_**Protect."**_

* * *

_Masaki giggled slightly as Ichigo picked himself back off of the sparring mat as Tatsuki once again beat him and knocked him over once again._

_"Ichigo." Masaki called out to Ichigo whom turned his head and smiled when he saw her. "It's time to go Ichigo." Masaki called out once again._

_"Ok Mum!" Ichigo waved and called back before looking back to Tatsuki and waving goodbye. "Bye bye Tatsuki-san."_

_Not long after Ichigo and Masaki left the dojo Masaki thought she'd break the silence with a little question for Ichigo._

_"Ichigo," Masaki said getting Ichigo's attention immediately as his eyes snapped over to her in an instant. "Do you know what your name means Ichigo?"_

_This immediately caused Ichigo to frown deeply and look away in thought. He hummed deeply to himself, poking the inside of his cheek a few times before scratching the back of his head and looking back to his mother with a bright smile on his face._

_"Nope!" Ichigo let out in a singsong voice happily oblivious to the meaning of the name his parents had given him._

_Masaki chuckled lightly to herself bringing a hand up to cover her mouth to try and not provoke Ichigo too much. It was too late apparently however as Ichigo adopted a little frown on his face and let out a small huff, crossing his arms as he did so._

_"What?" Ichigo demanded._

_"Oh, nothing." Masaki chided Ichigo gently. "Your name means 'to protect one thing' or 'number one guardian angle'."_

_Ichigo quit his pouting and a moment later a large smile dawned on his face._

* * *

"_**Protect…need power."**_

The voice spoke up once again after revealing that particularly fond memory of his when his mother first revealed to him what his name exactly meant.

Again, the voice did not make that much sense. Yes, he loved his family dearly and he so wished that he could have lived up to his name and protected his mother…wait! Did the voice mean he was going to give him the power to protect his family from now on!? If so, he just wanted to know what to do.

_**"Pendant…hold and think…about family…protect."**_

The voice gave more advice yet again, and Ichigo was about to decline the voices wishes. It had kept him in one piece so far, if by only suppressing his emotions of his dearly loved and departed mother. Still, he would listen, the voice had him living within its best interests as far as Ichigo knew.

Looking down at his right wrist where the pendant hung from the silver chain Ichigo grabbed it in his right hand and held out his arm closing his eyes, feeling himself being guided by some sort of ingrained instinct…or hand? Neither cause really mattered as Ichigo felt a flux of warmth rising up within him and a tingling sensation making itself known within his right arm, hand and both feet.

Opening both eyes, Ichigo couldn't believe the sight before him. A massive wheel of dark energy is all he could really describe the thing as, though its shape was much more easily discernable. A prong stuck out each end of his clenched hand for a total of two. At the ends of each prong a bar sat perpendicular to the main prong, which curved around and touched with the tips of the other bar in a perfect circle.

Mouth agape Ichigo almost didn't hear the voice calling to him.

"_**Too weak…not enough to defeat breakfast…focus more."**_

Ichigo grimaced somewhat when he heard the voices assessment of the strange energy circle in front of him. It already felt as if his arm was beginning to heat up from the amount of energy he was putting through it subconsciously and the voice said he needed more heat!?

"Alright, you can do this Ichigo." Ichigo said to himself to get in focus.

Closing his eyes once more Ichigo 'felt' the heat that he was channelling into his arm and tried to push more through. He was somewhat successful as he felt the warmth increase slightly and his hand tingle a little more. Opening his eyes once more Ichigo was only slightly disappointed when there appeared to be a third bar forming only for it to sputter out of existence.

"I don't know if I can do this." Ichigo muttered to himself as he hung his head.

Suddenly however the voice in his head let out a low growl and Ichigo felt his arm shaking slightly as the voice seemed to be trying to push more power through his arm. The temperature increased dramatically from the coolness that had come from the air and before he knew it his fist was gripping the pendant so tightly that it dug into his flesh and blood began to leak out through the wounds his hands now sported.

The blood coalesced around his hand drop by drop, meeting with the black wheel in his hand. It was sudden, and it was very powerful. With a burst of energy the black wheel ignited in a furious frenzy of blue energy that pulsed periodically and sent out twitching bursts of razor shaped energy among the black mass that still made up a majority of the wheel.

Ichigo stared wide-eyed at the difference in the energy that he felt in his hand. If what he could feel before was lukewarm water, this was boiling.

Ichigo convulsed suddenly when his legs moved on their own once again, though with much less control than before, causing him to leap off of the tree branch and towards the beast below. Letting out an involuntary yelp as the wind rushed past his ears Ichigo felt the control return to his body. The voice had let go leaving Ichigo to secure a landing strategy for himself.

Panicking for a moment Ichigo never noticed the beast snap its head in his direction in reaction to the small sound Ichigo made when he leapt from his hiding place, though it was a little too late for the beast as Ichigo landed feet first in the beasts face causing it to move back a step as the force form the boys fall dissipated.

The beast took a small moment to look at the child that had landed on its face and then promptly crumbled to the ground. Seriously! This small thing only manages to get the jump on it, to then screw up and fall over after attacking. What a joke!

Well that didn't matter to the beast as it swiped at the little child on the ground as it barely managed to scramble to its feet in time in order to take a quick step back and make a swiping motion at the beast with the strange wheel like construct in its hand.

The wheel itself barely managed to score a hit on the beast's finger as they connected for a fraction of a second.

That was all it took though. That fraction of a second, that one mistake, that one slip up, one bout of ignorance.

The beast felt a tingling in its offending limb and lifted it to its face for a closer inspection only to narrow its eyes when it saw the place where it touched the now identified weapon of the young child before it. Flesh sizzled and steamed from the small connection but disappeared a moment later as new skin replaced it in the blink of an eye.

Ichigo himself was just amazed that he managed to score a hit at all, though slightly disappointed when he realised that he only managed to score the skin.

Noticing the beast contemplate its new injury, Ichigo rushed forwards with a battle cry announcing his intentions to the beast, mistakenly believing that he would easily score another hit.

Instead the beast itself leapt backwards and sprinted behind some outcroppings before vanishing altogether.

Its presence was only announced a moment later when a slight crunching sound was heard behind and above the young Ichigo.

Leaping from above the creature attempted its own dive bomb on Ichigo much like he had a moment earlier. It was Ichigo this time who went to meet the beast however as he stepped forwards, many thanks to the murmers of the voice in his head telling him to do so, and shoved the wheel into the beasts abdomen as it passed overhead.

The scores that marked its flesh could easily be seen as it howled and landed in a tumble before righting itself and abandoning all pretences of caution that it may have had to the childs initial attack to its hand.

The beast rushed forwards and went to slap the boy with its giant hand, successfully landing a hit on the boys left side, but not without its of lightly seared flesh in ruturn.

Ichigo tumbled away and knicked his body in multiple places as he came to a stop, not to mention his now more than likely broken arm as it swayed gently at his side eliciting a gasp of pain every time he tried to move.

"_**Move!"**_

Ichigo leaped to the right as the voice commanded him to move and rolled over his right shoulder as he came back up, trying to be careful as to not aggravate his broken arm.

It was just in time as well, as the second after Ichigo came to a stop again there was the sound of something having impaled the ground right next to him.

Looking forwards, Ichigo once again saw the beast rapidly moving into position and the spike on its back standing tall as they suddenly shot out of its back and headed towards Ichigo. The spikes arced through the air and managed to scrape Ichigo's side as he attempted to avoid as much of it as he could. He was unlucky however as one of them went right through his right foot and pinned him to the ground.

Ichigo let out a scream of pain. Before the voice had dulled the pain when he had had his arm broken, but now the pain was excruciating, reaching a much higher level than before. It felt as though his foot had been severed from his ankle. He couldn't feel his toes much less the sole of his foot. All that registered was the now intense throbbing that originated from his right ankle as he attempted to crawl away from the scene. He didn't dare look as he scrambled for his life.

His right hand jerked to a stop as his sobbing continued unabated.

"Nooo!" Ichigo whined, "Make it- Make it stop!" Ichigo urged the power that held his limb fast.

"_**Turn around!...Strike now!"**_

The voice urged him on and twisted his head enough to see the beast charging towards him at a speed that would put Olympic athletes to shame.

Ichigo screamed once again as he brought his right arm around once more and reignited the wheel in his hand, though it sprouted three prongs this time and in a much more triangular fashion compared to the circular formation that was brought about the first time. Blue sparks ignited once more from the blade as his blood met the wheel and seared in his hand turning the flesh black from the shear power that it gave out.

The beast leapt up and onto the young boy, its giant hands landing either side of the boy creating a massive impact and causing the earth in the immediate vicinity to shake. It then lifted a hand and pressed it to the boy's chest to prevent him from escaping as it opened its maw and pressed downwards ignorant of the tiny weapon the pitiful creature before it held. It had only managed to burn the surface of its flesh before, so why would it be able to kill it now. The mask was much sturdier than the skin for all low level hollows. This was a well-known fact to all of the denizens of the world they were currently in, but the boy did not know that.

Ichigo panicked as he struggled to breath and almost dropped his weapon in favour of relieving himself of the pressure on his chest. He steadied his arm however even as his vision began to leave him. When the creature's mouth neared him he pulled back and slammed his triangular weapon into the beasts face once, a crack appeared, twice, a chip broke off causing the beast to press down in panic to kill the boy causing the remaining air in the boys lungs to leave his chest. Saliva leaked from the boy's mouth as his darkening vision became hazy and spots began to appear.

On the third strike the beast came down to meet the boy in an attempt to eat him before any more damaged occurred to its mask. It was then the boy let out a soundless scream as several ribs broke under the pressure and his heart felt like it was being crushed, that the triangular weapon crashed through the mask and ploughed into the flesh beneath, digging a hole right through its skull and out the other side. This was in no small part due to the beast's own efforts however as the force that the boy was exerting on the mask was not nearly enough to break through in three tries.

As blood and grey matter dribbled onto Ichigo, the pressure that was once on his chest was relieved as the beast tumbled to his left and immediately began to dissolve into the air.

Immediately Ichigo made gasping and wheezing breaths, the broken ribs making it difficult to breath for the absolutely terrified young boy.

In his attempt to sit up with his one good arm he never noticed the wisps of energy that the creature broke down into being absorbed into his body. In this moment of recovery, Ichigo let out another yelp as he looked as his right foot, or rather where his right foot should have been. It had been severed at just above the ankle and wasn't bleeding nearly as heavily as it should have been.

Looking around with his blurred vision Ichigo managed to make out the trail of blood he had made in his attempt to escape right after his foot had been severed.

Following the trail back he managed to see his foot among the spikes that still riddled the ground.

Seeing the bone and flesh from the top of his foot made him instantly feel nauseous and attempt to scream as he had done before. However, the lack of sound to escape the mouth signalled him that the voice had once again managed to gain some semblance of control after it left due to the subsequent loss of the offending piece of flesh.

Reaching out with his now dulled thoughts and senses he attempted to reattach the foot in a desperate attempt to believe it never happened to begin with, though with his blackened hand, it was harder to do than he initially thought. Just grasping for the foot itself was painful and tedious as the remaining nerve endings in his fingers, thumb and palm screamed every time some sensation passed through the skin.

When the two fleshy ends finally met it almost seemed hopeless as the flesh just slapped together continuously and the bones clacked when they hit.

He almost gave up, and he would have had the second to last hit not wielded any result.

It was almost undetectable at first, but when he tried to pull the two apart to go for the last hit he felt some resistance, before letting go and staring at the severing point intently, watching as the flesh of his leg ending turned white for the briefest of periods and an apparent clay like white substance sprouted from the stump and latched onto the foot before pulling it back on and returning sensation to his foot, though it felt cold at first.

When the sensations completely returned he attempted to wiggle his toes and was immediately surprised that he could. After this he carefully rose to his left leg and stood on it before lightly pressing down on his other foot and was pleasantly surprised when it didn't fall off. It did worry him slightly however when the clay substance hardened over his leg and had yet to go anywhere. He summed it up to his leg still healing. He didn't want to remove it if it was the only stuff currently holding his foot on his leg after all.

It was then, for the first time since Ichigo arrived in the dark forest that he smiled a small smile. It wasn't much, but after he had reattached his foot he felt a little better considering that he had almost died and was now discovering that he could reattach lost feet.

* * *

"Ara," a voice broke the silence of the dark room. "I didn' know ya watched little children Aizen-Taicho…"

The new voice sounded like it was almost snickering at an inside joke it had made up as its presence was made known to the only other occupant of the room only to trail off when he heard the decrepit sobs of the child beyond the monitor.

"Aren't you a little old for such childish jokes Gin?" the one identified as Aizen replied from his chair without looking back at the silver haired joker with the face of a snake.

Aizen readjusted himself in his chair contemplatively as he viewed the child on the screen sobbing away and coated in blood on the cold stone floor of the forest he was currently in.

"Who's that?" Gin replied in a slightly mystified voice looking towards Aizen as he made his comment, taking careful note to watch the mans brown eyes behind his square rimmed glasses and guess what was going on beneath his brown kempt hair. If he had to guess from the reiastu readings that were present beside the display, he would say a slowly dying child.

Aizen looked back at Gin as he stood there, white haori draped over his shoulders with both hands tucked into his sleeves across his chest, with his ever present smile somewhat diminished by the view of the child on the screen.

"…A failure." Aizen switched off the screen.


	2. Chapter 2

**CH 2:**

The Kurosaki family mourned for their losses soon after the disappearances of both Ichigo and Masaki Kurosaki despite ongoing police investigations. It was clear as day for those that could feel it in the air. The residual reiryouku that is.

Though Isshin may not have been able to feel it just yet, he could tell that they were gone the moment his reiryouku sparked back to life and a quiet murmuring began at the back of his mind in a voice that reminded him sorely of Engetsu. It was confirmed by a bucket-hatted shopkeeper that came around soon after however, successfully squashing any hopes of ever finding the two lost members of the family.

It broke him even further to seen his two youngest children come up to him when they had realised that their brother and mother were late getting home and came to ask him about it.

In reality, he couldn't really bring himself to tell them that monsters ate them. Instead he said that they were in an accident and wouldn't be coming home… at all, ever.

It would take some time before there was any progress made in regards to passing through this difficult time.

* * *

Ichigo stumbled over a rock because of a poorly timed step and tripped, hitting his face on the stone cold ground. It wouldn't be the first time it happened since he ended up in the 'stone forest' as Ichigo had come to call it.

He had been left rather drained after the first battle with one of the beasts and had yet to fully recover despite his miraculous recovery of his severed foot and once broken arm. Several ribs remained broken however as the voice made note that the energy expenditure wasn't worth it and that they had spent the entire beasts worth of energy and some just to heal those two parts to reasonable working condition. In the end breakfast wasn't breakfast. It was a waste of energy.

Ichigo had gained valuable knowledge from the encounter however, knowledge that the voice made sure of him to take note of despite his refusal to remember such a horrifying experience.

First and foremost was that despite the beasts direct linear speed, its ability to move around quickly left much to be desired, meaning that it found it much harder to turn and keep up its pace as compared to when it was running in a straight line. In other words movement was key…as was injury avoidance if the energy expenditure to heal something cost so much.

The other clear piece of information he had gained was that adding his blood to the energy in his attacks made them exponentially more powerful, or at least he thought it did since he had yet to attack one of the creatures without adding his blood to the weapon he wielded.

"_**Need more."**_

If it weren't for the voice's insistence at getting more food, though Ichigo didn't remember eating the beast, Ichigo would be taking a nice nap right about now, but even he could tell he was hungry now as his stomach rumbled beneath his skin.

"_**Turn right."**_

Ichigo listented to the voice as it seemed to know what it was doing for the most part when they were here. It hadn't let him down yet so he was willing to trust the voice for the most part.

As he continued in the new direction that the voice had told him to go, Ichigo could make out the sound of tearing flesh and teeth crushing bone. He winced for the most part at the unpleasant sound but the pressure at the back of his mind suppressed his feelings yet again preventing any more intense emotions get the better of him and make him run away at first sight or sound.

Walking forwards a few more steps, Ichigo stood next to a tree and pressed his back to it and slowly edged his way around the tree until he made it to a giant tree root clocking any further progress.

Leaning to the side over the giant root Ichigo made out a giant frog of some sort that appeared to be munching down on the dead carcass of some unfortunate beast that had fallen prey to the other beast's cannibalism. At least Ichigo thought it was cannibalism, they all had masks after all.

Thankfully however the frog had its back turned to Ichigo as it munched away at the dead body before it.

Sliding onto the giant root as gently as possible Ichigo made his way over it before stepping down and making his way over behind the beast as carefully as he could, trying not to make a sound as he went…well a louder sound than the crunching of bones anyway.

As Ichigo approached he readied his left hand, the other still badly burnt and let the pendant he had drop into his palm. The moment he was behind the frog he ignited the triangular weapon with a thought and leapt upon the giant frog in an attempt to surprise it somewhat and take it out in one strike.

Alas, he was not so lucky, as the searing energy that had been present for his first kill was not within his weapon and so the weapon merely bounced off of the skin, though not without a massive 'whump' noise to it. It appeared that his physical strength had increased somewhat since his last attack. That or he was somehow channelling the energy he felt to make himself stronger.

Whatever the case Ichigo was slightly disappointed he didn't kill the giant frog in a single strike, an avenue of great desire in any case especially considering his severely weakened state.

The moment Ichigo stepped backwards from the beast after making the strike the frog turned rapidly as Ichigo attempted to keep to its blind side by running around the backside as it turned to face whatever creature had failed to slay it in the first strike.

As Ichigo made his movements he was actually slightly glad for the slight miscalculation made when he attacked the frog from behind. This way he could make it to the other creature's carcass and get a bite in while the frog turned away.

Stumbling upon the body as the frog faced the direction the attack had come from Ichigo dove at it, ravenous for the mound comprised of flesh. As he approached it however and his triangular weapon neared it the flesh began to dissolve and the leftover wisps went into Ichigo's weapon, and through the weapon, Ichigo.

It was quiet the experience Ichigo thought to himself as he watched the carcass dissolve before his eyes. It made him wonder if this is what happened the first time he defeated a beast. Did it dissolve and go into him?

He was knocked out of his reverie as soon as the voice in his head blared at the incoming danger.

Turning quickly Ichigo was fast enough to hop back a step to avoid the frog's long tongue from lashing out and scoring a hit to his chest, but not fast enough to avoid the flying rubble that took the hit instead. It flew into his chest aggravating the already broken ribs into flaring up in pain.

Ichigo grunted quietly to himself as he took the hit shielding his eyes from the flying rocks with his arms crossed in an 'X' like fashion across his face.

"How dare you!" a slurring voice made its way out of the frogs mouth as it retracted its tongue from where it struck. "That was my meal! My path to evolution!"

The frog leaped forwards at a speed Ichigo was unaccustomed to seeing even when he was back in the world of the living. Surely the physical size had to slow it down right?

It appeared not as the frog's tongue lashed out yet again in an attempt to wrap around the apparently defenceless Ichigo in order to trap him.

"That was mine!" The hollow roared yet again as Ichigo managed to bring around his weapon in time and allow it to take the brunt of the force as it was forced up against his body and began to crack.

Ichigo's eyes widened at this. Not even the previous monster he had faced was capable of damaging the weapon to this extent. Then again, the previous monster had never actually struck the weapon to begin with…except for when it was having its face smashed against it.

"_**The masks… destroy the mask!"**_

The voice shouted in Ichigo's mind as it realised the connection between this beast and the previous one.

It had died from its head being destroyed though it had become rather distraught when Ichigo had managed to cause damage to it and ended up killing itself in an attempt to kill him.

Ichigo blinked as the ground passed beneath his feet and he finally reconnected with the ground causing dust to pick up from the landing and cut his feet with the small bits of rubble from the earlier clash.

Ichigo winced slightly at the sight of blood that began to leak from the cuts. He'd end up dying of blood loss at this rate!

Ichigo reached down however to smear his hand with blood yet again to attain the power boost that he had temporarily gained earlier again. His hand however stopped just a few centimetres shy of the blood and was forcibly retracted.

It was immediately obvious as to what the cause was.

"Why?" Ichigo whispered to himself as the frog approached yet again in a single leap to grind little Ichigo into dust.

"_**Too powerful to use consecutively…The new power you have is already straining your soul and body as it is…Don't want to die."**_

Ichigo blinked for a second. Had the voice just used more than just a few basic words to describe the current situation?

How strange. It wasn't even a few hours ago that it struggled to put a few words together. Perhaps _eating_ these beasts allowed it to get smarter.

"DIE!"

Ichigo's contemplation didn't matter much at this point however as the frog was upon him, and in a flash its tongue struck out again, this time landing on the mark and striking Ichigo in the chest causing blood to come out of his mouth and the pain in his chest to elevate once again from the sudden strike.

Ichigo went tumbling backwards head over heel until his momentum died down and he came to a sliding stop on his back approximately fifteen metres from his take off spot.

Slowly rising to his elbows to take a better look at the monster approaching him Ichigo cringed slightly when the monster showed utmost confidence in its current predicament, and rightly so. Ichigo was severely injured and it was in perfect health.

"Hehehe, and here I thought you were going to be at least some fun since dared to take my food from me." The frog said amusedly as it approached him. "Well, well, what do we have here? A little boy?"

Ichigo was merely confused at this point…well mix that with a dash of fear and panic and you'd probably hit the spot. Ichigo didn't realise that the monsters were capable of such casual conversation. He thought it was all 'Die' this and 'Die' that if the scene he had seen when his mother was torn to pieces and the earlier words from this hollow were any indication.

"Don't…" Ichigo made out in a painfully wheezy breath.

"Hmm, don't what?" The frog questioned in a sarcastic voice. "Eat you?" The frog began cackling straight after that declaration and stepped forwards once more even closer to Ichigo than before, practically face to face with the poor boy, breathing directly on his face.

"Afraid I'm gonna have to though." The frog said casually. "After all, you did eat the rest of my meal you scavenger shit!"

The frog's mouth opened wide as it finished and its tongue lashed out the instant there was room for it to pass through its grotesque teeth.

Ichigo however managed to roll to the side just in time to miss the shot, though not the after effects as the ground shattered and caved inwards causing Ichigo to roll back down to the bottom of the hole and directly back into the frogs line of fire.

"I won't miss again!" The frog roared as it struck out once more, this time impacting the weapon Ichigo wielded as he used it as an improvised shield, placing it between himself and the frog, allowing the rain of frog tongue to strike it continuously.

The cracks appeared gradually as Ichigo scrunched his eyes shut in fear waiting for his shield to break and his life to end. He knew that there was only one of two ways this battle could go against this giant frog.

One was his death after the shield shattered. The other was him putting his blood into his weapon once more and possibly dying after he burnt the frogs tongue off. Neither outcome was particularly pleasant and he didn't want to die just yet, however the blood was his best option as far as things went so far.

More cracks appeared.

Ichigo's free hand reached down his leg and he wiped his hand across the fresh blood that had been spilled and placed his hand on the shield before him. He immediately regretted the decision somewhat as a burning sensation made itself known throughout his arms and began arcing around to his back and across his spine.

He wanted to drop the weapon he held in his hands badly. He couldn't though, not yet at least, not until the frog was dead.

The frog lashed out once more, striking the blazing shield and immediately searing the entire tip of its tongue.

"Ahh!" The frog cried as it stumbled backwards, confused as to the sudden turn of events. "Wha 'id you 'o! My 'ongue!"

Ichigo slowly stumbled to his feet as the frog backed off somewhat and gave him some space to move.

Pronged weapon in hand Ichigo haphazardly began to step forward one step at a time until he regained enough balance to start running at the frog and smash the weapon in the monsters face causing a chip to fall off the moment it connected. Ichigo pulled back once more to strike again but had to finish his attack short as the frog turned and swiped at him with one of its front webbed feet.

"Ahh!" The monster screeched as it saw the chip of its mask fall to the ground as it swiped at the entity now known as a danger to its continued existence.

Ichigo's step back however was far further than he had originally anticipated as green lights flickered out beneath his feet in his fear for his life. It was strange really. The more he came closer to death the stronger he became. He just hoped it wouldn't always be so close to death however.

Recovering from his leap backwards Ichigo ran forwards yet again, though under slight mental guidance's from the voice in his mind though its attention appeared to be split as it attempted to split his mind and the pain he was feeling apart while keeping him alive in his fight for his life.

Ichigo stepped left as the monster lashed out with its right frog foot and struck the ground where Ichigo had been just a fraction of a second ago. Continuing his path forward Ichigo accelerated forward yet again with a slight spark of green light when he saw the frog foot swiping back in his direction.

Passing by the frog's back foot Ichigo lashed out once again and struck its knee effectively burning his way through some of the flesh on its leg before retracting his arm and making his way around to the back of the monster.

The frog howled in pain yet again as it half limped to turn around managing to strike out with its still damaged tongue at Ichigo whom was almost on the other side of its body at this point and hit him in the side, catching the young boy off guard.

Sent tumbling to the ground Ichigo barely managed to raise himself to his knees as pain wracked his body and he only wished to cry at the impending doom as the frog thrashed and clawed at the ground. The pain sustained from using his blood in his attack was too much and the weapon in his hand had dimmed in colour.

Hastily making its way over to Ichigo in an attempt to swallow him whole the frog was caught off guard when it was tackled to the ground by a white blur.

* * *

Lavender eyes watched from a perch in the stone trees above the ground as a human?... Yes a human attacked the giant frog below them and managed to press an offense against the frog in a rather valiant attempt to stay alive after stealing the frog's meal.

To be honest the act was rather foolish and even the owner of the lavender eyes knew that, yet they couldn't help but remain impressed when the human managed to score a few hits and incapacitate the frog to some extent. It would appear that the regenerative capabilities of this frog weren't quite on par with some of the others of its species.

Well never mind that now. The way in which the human managed to disable the frog was haphazard and dangerous at best, yet it thought of different ways to survive its encounter with the frog. Even going as far to do something they had never seen done before. Combining his own blood with his energy weapon to make it many times stronger than before.

Perhaps this human had what it took to help it. Maybe they could team up…if the human wasn't for attacking anything it came across.

It was after this point that the owner of the lavender eyes began to make their move. Slithering down the tree by coiling their self around the branches they made their way to the base of the tree and just managed to make out the little human get struck down by the frog in his attempt to get around to the frogs back and strike it down.

It was then the frog appeared to be blinded to the world around it with rage. The rage that came with being critically injured by a weaker being and humiliated by having its kill stolen in the same day.

Moving quickly the snake slithered along the ground closer to the duo, coiled its body together and sprung out from amongst the trees tackling the frog to the ground dazing it in its confusion, giving them the required time to coil their body around the frog and crush it in its powerful grip.

* * *

Ichigo glanced up towards the tumbling frog and giant snake that had appeared in his vision.

Hope appeared in his heart and he desperately attempted to get to his feet and make his way away from the two fighting monsters.

It was when Ichigo heard the snapping sound did he dare turn around and look at the two battling giant creatures.

The frog was dead, its head hanging limply in the snakes embrace. There was no movement to be seen as the lifeless eyes of the frog gazed into the distance.

The snake was the first one to make a move. It approached him slowly, towering over him easily; its mouth was large enough to swallow him whole should it choose to do so.

"Are you alright?" the snake spoke in a feminine voice clearly identifying it as a female.

Ichigo sat there stunned for all of but a moment before nodding soundlessly in shock. He just tried to sit himself upright against a tree that was a few metres away behind him…though he supposed in hindsight it may have looked like he was scared of her, the monster?

"_No."_, Ichigo shook his head. This was no monster. The giant snake was trying to help him.

He looked up at her once more and was slightly disturbed to see a somewhat disappointed look on its face if that was even possible with the fan-like mask on its head, covering most of its face. Though, that did not stop her from approaching again, dragging the monster with her, still coiled in her grip.

"I'm ok." Ichigo replied in a somewhat confused voice.

The snake tilted its head somewhat as though in a notion to mean that it didn't believe him in the slightest. As though to emphasize that line of thought, it slid forwards the dead frog and offered it to Ichigo.

"Can you eat this?" the snake questioned somewhat hopefully.

Ichigo just nodded his head somewhat thankfully before reaching forward with the reignited weapon causing the snake to flinch somewhat and back away suddenly before it saw the weapon pressed against the frog and the almost immediate disintegration it suffered upon contact.

For a moment the snake could have sworn that there was a tiny mask at the front of the weapon the boy held pulling the slivers of the frogs disintegrating body into its mouth.

Shaking her head for a moment to clear the sight from her mind the snake looked at the boy once again and saw that he began to relax as the small cuts on his feet began to heal over and push out the foreign debris.

Finally having finished the frog off Ichigo felt his ribs beginning to click back into place and flinched when one or two felt like they were pinching his insides as they moved about.

"Why did you help me?" Ichigo questioned the snake before him as it watched him intently.

The snake appeared to look at him for a second before shaking her head and answering the question.

"I was hoping that we could form an alliance of sorts in return for me saving your life." The snake said truthfully.

Ichigo felt a little confused at that statement. The snake had completely annihilated the frog in a single attack. Why would she need his help?

Predicting his response from the look on his face the snake replied before he could speak.

"I may have killed that Hollow quickly, but that was only because of your efforts before to kill it. In any other circumstance it is unlikely that I would have been able to kill it by myself as my abilities are fairly limited due to my lack of limbs."

A look of understanding dawned on Ichigo's face as he took in the words of the snake. She wouldn't have been able to take out the frog if Ichigo hadn't distracted it. Or at least it was very unlikely.

Suddenly something clicked in Ichigo's mind.

"Wait," Ichigo said suddenly, surprised that the creatures had names to them. "You called it a Hollow. Is that what all the creatures in this forest are called?"

The snake then performed the equivalent of raising an eyebrow, whatever that was and nodded.

"I would have thought that you being here meant that you knew what this place was and what the creatures here are called."

Ichigo shook his head in response.

"No. I just woke up here after my mum and I were attacked by a monster near a river on our way home and then I woke up here."

The snake appeared to flinch somewhat at the child's shortened story. Surely there was more to it than that, but she didn't want to press just yet. Instead she would give the boy a condensed version of all he needed to know about the place he was in.

"You are in Heuco Mundo. Most of, if not all the creatures here are called hollows. They are easily discernible by the mask on their face and the hole they possess at some point on their body." The snake gestured to the hole in its midsection.

"So this forest is called Heuco Mundo?" Ichigo questioned from his position against the tree.

The Snake shook her head, "No, this forest is called 'The Forest of Menos'." The Snake Hollow corrected Ichigo. "Heuco Mundo is the name of the world we are in."

"World?" Ichigo questioned. "So I was brought to another world?"

The Snake paused for a second before nodding her head. "Though I am not sure how, you were brought to this world along with the hollow that attacked you and your mother. Normally a low level hollow can only make enough space for itself to pass through the gap." The snake concluded looking at Ichigo more intently now that it realised the sheer impossibility of the little boy passing through as he did. It was nothing short of a miracle.

"Though I must say you are taking this rather well for a boy who looks like it's his first time in Heuco Mundo."

Ichigo flinched a little before responding. "Well, there is this voice in my head that's been telling me what to do and to eat the other hollows to get through. He's been getting smarter somehow as I eat the hollows though, so I think he's learning about Heuco Mundo as I eat the hollows."

The Snake's eyes widened minutely at the response. From what she had gathered from her far and few between meals, hollows that had voices in their mind were continuously assaulted by a buzzing at the back of their consciousness. If they didn't continue to eat the noise would get louder and louder until they ate another hollow and suppressed the noise or they lost their mind and regressed back to a Menos Grande.

"You don't happen to hear a buzzing at the back of your mind do you?" The snake questioned cautiously. If he was there was no telling what could happen.

Receiving a shake of the head in response the snake sighed somewhat as she closed her eyes and went over what just happened.

"Well, I don't think you're going to get back the way you came. It must have been a miracle that you managed to pass through the planes of existence at all. If you wish to go back you'll have to learn how to open a garganta and develop an air walking technique."

The colour drained from Ichigo's face as he heard that. Garganta? Air-walking technique? What were those!?

"Or, we can team up together and you can help me reach my second evolution, an Adjuchas and I can get you back myself." The Snake stated.

Ichigo looked at the Snake in surprise. "Why can't you do that now?"

The Snake was a little taken back at the question. _"He really doesn't know much about this place or hollows does he? Thank goodness he doesn't know about the Shinigami."_

"Only hollows of Menos level can successfully open a garganta." The Snake replied, "The power level required to do so is too great for someone of the lowest hollow form to achieve. Even then, the air walking technique required is not possible for extended periods of time until one reaches the second evolution Adjuchas."

"I thought you said a Menos could open a garganta?" Ichigo replied in a confused tone.

The Snake looked to the side as she tried to come up with some sort of reply for the boy. "Normally yes, however, Gillan, the first evolution suffer from severely decreased intelligence, even if the dominant personality stays in control…Well, from what I can tell anyway. The likely hood of me understanding you at that point, much less surviving a trip to the world of the living is highly unlikely, and I'd like to increase my chances of survival first." The Snake explained her reasoning.

It made sense, at least Ichigo thought it did anyway, and the voice wasn't exactly giving any input at the moment so this was his own decision to make. He could either part ways with the new Snake Hollow he'd been talking to and likely die an early death, or he could team up with her until he learnt an air walking technique and how to open a Garganta or she herself made it to the second evolution.

No matter how he placed it, the second option was by far the best he was being given at the moment.

Nodding his head to himself Ichigo attempted to stand back up and looked into the Hollow's eyes and made his reply.

"I'd like to team up with you if that wouldn't be a problem." Ichigo responded politely.

The Snake appear absolutely delighted to have gained a comrade in the Forest of Menos if the way her tail was twitching was any indication.

"Wonderful." She said as she got closer to him, taking his word as permission to get closer to him to observe his wounds. "You appear to be quite hurt. Are you going to be okay?" she said appearing to be genuinely concerned with his well-being.

Ichigo nodded his head, "I think so," Ichigo said shying away a little at the sudden closeness of the female Hollow. "Though I don't think I'll be able to move for a bit." He responded.

"I'll carry you then!" she said suddenly, wrapping her tail around Ichigo and placing him on her back before taking off in a random direction.

Her head seemed to per to the side as thought she just remembered something. "Oh, I almost forgot," she started, excitement still in her voice, "My name is Cyan Sung-Sun."

Ichigo blinked and somehow managed a slight smile despite the severe hardship he had faced over the past day. "Nice to meet you Sung-Sun-san. My name is Ichigo Kurosaki."

"The pleasure is all mine Kurosaki-san."


	3. Chapter 3

**CH 3:**

As Sung-sun slithered her way through the forest Ichigo payed rapt attention to her as she explained the specifics of the Hollow realm to him. It had been roughly three days since their meeting and they were getting along rather well.

Sung-sun had fessed up during that time and said that she thought a weaker Hollow would be less averse to teaming up with another weak Hollow rather than a strong one that would likely eat her straight away. This way she thought they both had a better chance of survival. More than two would likely lead to infighting during their trip so it was probably best to stick to themselves for now.

"…and so I have to eat and eat other hollows until I become 'full' enough to evolve into a Menos Grande. After that it's a bit of hit and miss. During the process from what I've heard around here you have to fight for dominance during the transformation otherwise some other Hollow that I've eaten could take over or we could all lose ourselves and become a generic Menos Grande."

"Of course however there are Hollows that don't really want or feel the need to evolve. Then again some just can't evolve altogether because they don't possess the raw potential needed. I hope I'm not like that though…"

Ichigo raised a brow for a moment before sliding off of the side of Sung-sun causing her to stop. Sure he had really only been in the forest for about five days now but he felt himself really starting to warm up to the Snake Hollow. It was probably his childish naivety getting in the way.

Never the less the two became surprisingly fast friends through talking together, though that remained to be seen however as from what Ichigo could tell, strength was everything mong Hollows. If you were weak you died and were eaten, that's it, which made it all the more strange for a Hollow to seek the cooperation of another for a mutually beneficial alliance. All the more strange to him however as he couldn't even beat Tatsuki yet and he was selected to be this Hollows hunting partner!

"What's wrong?" Sung-sun asked him.

"Nothing." Ichigo replied rolling his shoulders lightly noticing a significant difference in the amount of pain he was feeling from three days ago to how much he was feeling now. At the moment his muscles just felt a little sore, as though he'd pushed himself in a Karate lesson at the dojo and then tried to sun home afterwards. "I'm just feeling better now, plus I'm hungry." Ichigo stated as his stomach grumbled just before his statement.

"Oh, that's great!" Sung-sun turned back to the way they were going. "We can begin Hollow hunting now!"

Ichigo nodded in agreement. "Yeah. You need to evolve and I need to get stronger quickly."

Though Ichigo couldn't see it Sung-sun smiled somewhat when she heard the child think that she could evolve into an Adjuchas.

Humming to herself a little, Sung-sun focused for a moment.

"Come on over this way, I can feel some other hollows over this way." Sung-sun said before taking off at a leisurely pace that Ichigo wouldn't find too hard to keep up with.

"So can you do anything else besides hitting Hollows with that thing Kurosaki-san?"

Ichigo hummed to himself for a moment before shrugging his shoulders, " I don't know, I've only used it twice so far so I don't know much about it…Oh!"

Sung-sun turned her head to face him during this moment and looked at him as though to say 'what?'.

"I don't know how I did it, but during the last fight with the frog hollow I used some kind of green sparks and it made me run faster and jump further!" Ichigo exclaimed with excitement. "Do you know what that is?"

Sung-sun just shook her head, "No, I've never heard of such a thing." She admitted. "I unfortunately don't know much about human spirit abilities."

Ichigo looked down in slight disappointment, "Oh."

Sung-sun panicked for a moment when Ichigo looked stricken. "Ah, well…you seem to have a handle on it for now, all you need to do is practice and eat hollows right?"

Ichigo perked up at that and nodded his head. "Yeah! It'll be like going to the Karate-dojo and practicing there…except without a teacher…" Ichigo looked down again at the end of that.

Sung-sun decided to change the subject after that. It would seem however she had a penchant for making things worse for others in a conversation.

"Do you think you could throw your weapon or release an energy burst of some kind?" Sung-sun asked hopefully. It would be bad if he got injured again and she may just have to leave him for it. "It doesn't matter if you can't, most low level Hollows don't have any projectiles and none can fire a Cero, but it would be beneficial for the both of us if you didn't get hurt again so badly."

Ichigo instantly fell out of his depression and scrunched up his brows in thought. To fire a projectile of some kind…? Maybe he could.

Ichigo brought around the pendant in his hand and ignited it in front of himself before swinging his arm around and releasing the pendant sending the three-pronged projectile off along with his pendant. It seemed to work for a moment, however the blades quickly retraced after he threw it and the pendant just clattered to the ground.

"I don't think I can." Ichigo said as he walked over and picked up his pendant before placing it back on his wrist.

Sung-sun stared for a moment before speaking again with another suggestion.

"Maybe you could try and charge it up and then let go of the energy rather than letting go of the pendant." Sung-sun suggested while thinking that it wouldn't be a good idea if he dropped his pendant in the middle of a battle. How would he defend himself after all?

Ichigo nodded and held out the pendant again and stopped walking before closing his eyes and focusing on the pendant. As he focused he poured more energy into it than usual and not just three prongs sprouted this time but four. Scrunching his brows together Ichigo opened his eyes and heaved, swinging his arm around his body before letting go of the energy he was sending into the pendant and watched as the four-pronged disk took off into the forest before colliding with one of the many trees in the forest and gouging a thin line into it.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he turned to face Sung-sun a grin on his face. "I did it!" he jumped up and down for a moment celebrating his victory.

Sung-sun looked at the thin gouge in the tree. It would appear that with each blade that appeared on the spirit weapon the boy had, the power increased. It was certainly more than when he had initially attacked the frog yesterday, though she had a feeling that the outcome would have been the same regardless of the additional prong against that Frog Hollow. Never the less she applauded the young boy after her little contemplation in the hopes that positive reinforcement would accelerate his learning.

"That was very good Kurosaki-san!" she exclaimed with enthusiasm. "I haven't seen many Hollows that can fire energy projectiles and they were among the stronger Hollows in the forest."

Ichigo let out a big grin at that statement.

* * *

One, two…three?

There were at least three Hollows that Sung-sun could count in the clearing. Two of which were already ganging up on another Hollow. A rather small thing that looked like a crippled bird. It was missing half a wing and appeared to be bleeding rather heavily as it backed away warily.

The other two Hollows looked like felines of some sort. A rather poor matchup for her if you were to ask. Though her size did play to her advantage in this case and she did have little Ichigo along with her this time so things might be possible when considering the few scuff marks on the felines meaning that the bird hadn't gone down without a fight and was still attempting to recover a victory in the means of an escape.

Ichigo looked through the gaps of the trees bellow Sung-sun and gasped when he saw the three Hollows in the clearing. Could they really take these all on?

He was startled slightly when Sung-sun prodded his shoulder with her tail in order to get his attention. Looking up he noticed her shaking her head slightly and leaned down to whisper to him.

"Let's wait until the bird Hollow has died. Then we'll attack the other two." Sung-sun whispered her plan to Ichigo whom could only nod to her decision, unable to come up with anything better.

The two watched as the bird desperately fought to keep its life only to die a moment later after it had been caught in one of the felines grip. In a last act of defence the bird stuck its beak into the feline's left side and gouged out a rather sizeable hole just below its shoulder.

Growling one last time the feline grabbed the birds neck in its mouth and bit down hard. Ichigo could hear the snapping noise as the neck of the bird was absolutely crushed in the animal's titanic bite.

Gulping hard Ichigo looked to Sung-sun whom nodded in return and lead the way around into the clearing to behind the two felines whom were now making a meal of the Hollow that they had just killed.

Coiling up into a spring Sung-sun knocked the feline without the shoulder injury down and used this moment to rapidly coil around the feline in an attempt to crush its body in her grip. It didn't go unnoticed by the other feline however who could only look on in surprised shock for a moment as their companion fought against the hellish grip of Sung-sun.

Ichigo himself had wordlessly acknowledged Sung-sun's own attack and charged up his own attack and four prongs appeared on his weapon.

"Ha!" Ichigo raised his voice slightly in an attempt to release the attack with all his might.

Flinging it towards the injured feline he only just managed to hit it before it pounced into action.

The force of the strike knocked the feline off balance causing it to cancel its own attack on Sung-sun and refocus its attention on Ichigo.

"_**Be careful. More agile than previous opponents."**_

For the first time in a few days the voice spoke up giving Ichigo advice about the enemy before him. Ichigo merely nodded in acknowledgment and reactivated his weapon, only three prongs appearing this time.

"_**Have been repairing damage you caused and also resting."**_

The feline charged and pounced from side to side in an attempt to confuse Ichigo before making its attack when it judged itself to be close enough.

Ichigo himself could only panic at the sheer ferocity and speed of the feline. It was a league above the previous Hollows he had fought before and clearly more intelligent if its attack pattern was anything to go by.

In a desperate attempt to avoid the felines claws he leapt to the side, avoiding certain death if the way the claws sliced through the stone ground he had been standing on mere moments earlier.

It wouldn't be so easy however as the feline quickly changed direction and headed after Ichigo before he had a chance to make another decision and take another step.

The felines claws connected with his make shift shield and instantly caused it to shatter. The claws tore through the barrier he had put between himself and the feline. Fortunately however the force required doing so knocked Ichigo back enough to avoid the claws almost entirely.

His stomach sustained light scratches as the claws cleanly sliced through his skin and made contact with the ground yet again allowing it to ready another attack.

In this moment however Ichigo quickly pieced his weapon back together and flung a three pronged attack at the face of the feline. It promptly shattered upon impact.

The feline was not impressed.

Charging forward once more Ichigo instantly regretted attacking in that moment as the claws sliced off a finger on his left hand. His pinkie to be exact, causing Ichigo just a little bit of panic.

Despite its injuries this feline appeared to have more will power than common sense as the shoulder that should have impaired its movement somewhat appeared to be doing a marvellous job of only lagging behind by a negligible amount. It was that negligible amount however that saved Ichigo from being cleaved in two on the second and third attack

The other reason Ichigo managed to avoid sustaining further damage was because in his moment of panic and need to get further away green sparks yet again pressed from his feet and propelled him farther away than before.

* * *

Compared to Ichigo, Sung-sun was having a rather easy time with her prey. Forgiving the fact that it had managed to free its upper body from her grip in the early parts of the struggle to be set free from her monstrous grip.

Unfortunately for the feline however, as a Snake Sung-sun's specialty was to poison her victims with powerful paralytic venom. A venom she was now injecting into the Hollows blood stream as she sustained several claws to her front and sides in an attempt to make the her get off of the feline.

Unclamping her mouth from the felines side after a moment of injecting the venom Sung-sun went back to trying to subdue the hollow by crushing it in her grip. A task made easier by the venom she had injected which was slowly slowing down the Hollow in her grip and causing it to slump in her grip allowing her to coil around the feline completely again and squeeze with all her might.

It took a moment or two, much longer than when dealing with the frog Hollow the other day, but she could hear the bones of the feline beginning to crack and break under the pressure. It wouldn't be long before the feline was a mangled mess and would be the equivalent of a sack of gelatine with a few hard parts here and there.

Having finished her task Sung-sun took a moment to glance at Ichigo, her eyes widening at the trouble he was in. If he failed she would surely die. She would have died had the feline she attacked not been injured in its battle with the bird. She had purposely left the more severely injured feline for Ichigo to take care of as she figured that its movement would be impaired due to the location and nature of the injury it had sustained.

It appeared that she was wrong however and that this was not the case if the way that the feline appeared to be toying with Ichigo was anything to go by…no, it was definitely slowing, but not fast enough!

Sung-sun pushed more reiatsu through her body with her meagre supply, grunted and squeezed harder eliciting a slight whimper from the feline in her grip when another bone snapped. She had to help.

* * *

Ichigo only took a fraction of a second to look at the green sparks that had once again been emitted from his feet. He felt it that time. Now all he had to do was remember that feeling and do it again.

Looking up Ichigo noted the slight confusion in the felines expression before it growled and sprung forwards once again.

This time Ichigo was prepared, though he did not waste the time and leaped to the right again trying to bring the slight tingling feeling he had felt before to his feet and was pleasantly surprised when sparks were emitted from them and propelled him yet again.

Flinging another attack Ichigo launched another pronged attack as the feline connected with his previous location and managed to score a hit on the gouge in the felines side causing it to flinch slightly and stumble to the side when it lost balance for all but a moment.

The feline renewed its attack an instant later taking shorter leaps this time in order to get closer before striking.

The plan worked and Ichigo lost the timing of the felines attacks and sustained another hit across his abdomen, this one digging far deeper than the last, causing the wound to sting greatly. If the amount of blood was any indication, the feline had scored a rather fatal hit as well. The feline appeared to grin at the coming victory it saw.

Ichigo needed to end this now.

Taking a risk Ichigo landed on the ground once more and saw the line prepping for another strike. This time Ichigo pushed off in a run going as fast as he could, green sparks boosting his speed slightly as he approached.

The felines front paws were leaving the ground as he arrived in an attempt for an easy kill.

"Ha!" Ichigo yelled in a final push Ichigo put in his maximum effort and swung his right arm down with the weapon as a fourth prong sprouted and he slammed the weapon into the top of felines head, green sparks igniting from Ichigo's fist as he punched.

A massive crack was heard as the felines head snapped downwards, paws going back down to the ground and the mask on its face appeared to develop crack lines all over.

Seeing the feline not being finished, Ichigo took a stance he remembered from Karate and pulled back his left fist and punched forwards, green rings igniting around the arm as he propelled it forwards and through the centre of the mask, connecting with the face underneath, eliciting a noise Ichigo could only assume to be the Hollow's nose breaking under the pressure.

He did it! He broke the mask!

"_**Look out!"**_

Was all the warning he received before the felines golden eyes snapped back open and roared as it tackled Ichigo to the ground going for a bite in his left arm.

* * *

Sung-sun stared at the lump of flesh in her grip. It certainly wasn't moving anytime soon with the amount of damage it had sustained from her crushing grip.

Looking back up Sung-sun was slightly amazed when she saw Ichigo propel himself forward with flashes of green at his feet and manage to slam his weapon into the felines head before following up with a straight punch to the face and puncturing the Hollows mask.

Sung-sun however knew he wasn't in the clear yet and released the Hollow in her grip before rushing forwards and tackling the Hollow off of Ichigo though not without hearing a scream of pain in return as she heard something fleshy tear apart.

Sung-sun didn't let it distract her however as she made quick work of the felines remaining mask and bit into it shattering the remainder and crushing the felines throat. The gurgling noise it made confirmed that it couldn't breath and combining that with the shattered mask, silence soon reined supreme.

She quickly released it and checked on Ichigo who was missing his entire left arm from the shoulder down.

"Are you going to be alright?" Sung-sun quickly checked Ichigo up and down again once more for any other major wounds.

The most she saw was the cuts on his stomach which appeared to be slowly healing over and turning white as a clay like substance made itself known and poured through the cuts and sealed the wound.

Ichigo whimpered when the pain the voice was supressing leaked through to his mind before nodding to Sung-sun. "Just please…bring me my arm." Ichigo asked Sung-sun whom immediately turned around and caught sight of it in the dead felines jaw while Ichigo remained groaning in pain.

Picking it up carefully with her tail she handed it to Ichigo confused as to why he would want it back. It's not like he could reattach it…could he?

She watched in amazement as he held the two ends of shredded flesh together and after a moment more of the white clay like substance began to form, though in a far lower quantity than she'd imagined he'd need to fix such a wound. She was right, as when the white substance stopped leaving the wound the healing stopped and Ichigo began to make his way over to the hollow she had managed to finish off for him.

Holding out his pendant and activating it with a slight amount of effort the dead hollow dissolved into the air and flowed into the pendant. Immediately afterwards more of the white substance spewed from his arm and finished the healing process allowing Ichigo to roll his shoulder as the clay substance hardened and remained in place.

"Wow!" Sung-sun blinked. "I didn't know humans could do that!" she exclaimed.

Standing up with a slight wobble Ichigo straightened out and walked over to where his severed finger lay and then placed that on his hand and allowed it to move into place as more of the white substance joined the two parts together.

"I don't think they can." Ichigo responded unsure of himself as he struck a thinking pose, almost forgetting completely that he had almost died a few moments ago. "Though I first figured it out in my first battle with a hollow when my foot was shot off." Ichigo said in an almost lackadaisical tone as he lifted his pant sleeve showing the white skin that lay beneath joining the two parts together with almost flame like patterns where the peach skin and whiteness of the new flesh met.

"Doesn't it take a lot of energy though?" Sung-sun asked as she began to turn around and head for her kill.

Ichigo nodded in the affirmative. "Yes. The voice in my head says I need to avoid injury as much as possible and that because of my injuries I've pretty much wasted all the energy I've gained so far, though that time I kept most of it." The comment threw Sung-sun off as she paused for a moment and then continued moving towards the second feline. "So I just have to get faster and better at moving around."

"Agile." Sung-sun corrected. "It means the ease at which one can change directions quickly." Sung-sun informed him of the new word. "You have to get faster and more agile." She restated Ichigo's sentence. "There, it's shorter, makes sense and sounds smarter."

Ichigo grinned up at Sung-sun as she moved into position around the second feline and unhinged her jaw and made to swallow the Hollow whole causing Ichigo to blanch white. He certainly didn't want that to happen to him.

Unfortunately Sung-sun noticed however and just said, "'at?" Having difficulty pronouncing the whole word 'what' with half a Hollow hanging out of her mouth.

"Uh," Ichigo turned away, "nothing." Ichigo tried to make it sound like it didn't bother him to see her swallow a Hollow whole and that it meant that she could just as easily do that to him.

Breaking the silence after a moment Ichigo asked a question, "So, who gets the bird Hollow?" he pointed at the bird looking back at Sung-sun who still had a quarter of the feline hanging out of her mouth. He could see it slowly moving into her mouth and down her gullet.

After a moment of supposed thinking however she motioned with her eyes that he could have it.

Walking over to the bird he held out his weapon, which now sprouted four prongs rather than the three it had before.

"_**You have managed to get stronger by battling those greater than you. It is only natural that your strength increases quickly when against those that are your better. It also helps that you actually got a surplus of energy that time rather than using it all for healing your wounds."**_

Blinking yet again, Ichigo was amazed that the voice could speak proper sentences now.

"_**You know I can read your mind right?"**_

"Um…no?" Ichigo answered as though asking a question more than answering.

"_**I've learnt at an accelerated rate due to the hollows you have consumed. The knowledge of the previous Hollows has been added to my own to some extent. Only the basics of the basics are gained. So, now I can talk properly rather than sounding like a two year old going goo goo and ga ga."**_

Some of those words passed right over Ichigo's head but he just nodded to himself anyway and held out the weapon in his hand and watched as the bird dissolved into black wisps before being drawn into the weapon.

"_**Right, so, thanks for the meal and all, but that ain't a weapon in your hands...well a proper one anyway. It has no edge, and unless you're going to bludgeon someone or something to death you're going to die. You can already see how well that's worked out for you." **_The voice commented offhandedly._** "Going and losing not only your foot but a finger and an arm."**_ The voice continued in a grumble.

Not a weapon?

Ichigo blinked and looked at the tool? In his hand.

"_**Eh, close enough. It's more like a shield than anything else. You can release it as you already know and throw it at enemies, but at your current level that isn't going to be anything more than a distraction. And for the love of everything you want to keep in one piece, do not! I repeat, DO NOT! Apply blood to your attacks ever again. You're lucky you weren't any stronger or you would have fried your whole body trying to use it."**_ The voice reprimanded Ichigo on his shortcomings.

Ichigo blanched white yet again, though this time it didn't have to do with Sung-sun being a Snake.

"_**As for your mother."**_ The voice tried to sound sincere.

Ichigo just looked down at being reminded about his mother. Recently he'd just been swamped with the thought of surviving and making it home in one piece, so he'd almost forgotten.

"_**For now it's best you forgot about her. Nothing but your death will come of it and that isn't good for either of us."**_

Ichigo just nodded when he heard the voices advice. It was probably right. It had kept him alive on more than one occasion now so it was probably for the best that he heeded the advice given to him.

"_**I'm gonna remember that."**_ The voice mentioned, referring to Ichigo heeding his advice. _**"But for now you need to pay attention to the world around you. Snake princess is calling."**_

Ichigo snapped back to reality. He hadn't realised he had been so tuned out.

"…ki-san? Kurosaki-san?" Sungsun called out for what must have been the fifth time. Was that voice talking to him?

"Hmm," Ichigo turned to her, "Sorry Sung-sun-san, I got a bit distracted." Ichigo scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

"Riight." Sung-sun confirmed the voice was the cause of his distraction. "Anyway. Since you're looking better than when I first found you and probably better than you have been in a while, why don't we head over to the main hub and do some hunting there?"

"Main hub?" Ichigo questioned genuinely confused. He thought Hollows all attacked each other to eat each other so it was rare for them to be near each other without tearing each other to pieces.

Then again she had also said that some Hollows don't have the same need for eating other hollows.

"Yeah." Sung-sun nodded. "It's only called that because that's where all the Hollows that don't eat each other usually gather. Well around these parts anyway."

Ichigo thought on it for a moment before trying to send a suggestion to the voice in his head and waited for an answer. When he got it he voiced a concern that the voice had brought up.

"Won't the other Hollows likely attack us if they see us killing them?" Ichigo asked.

Sung-sun just shook her head before replying, "No, not usually. If it's a group coming through, they're more likely to scatter, so the attack has to be quick. It can be done once every few months since most low level Hollows are really stupid and will forget your face in about that amount of time." Sung-sun satisfied Ichigo's question before adding a tad bit more information on top of that. "Though sometimes an Adjuchas will come through to look for some low level Hollows to serve them. The last time that happened though was about two years ago and I'm pretty sure that guy was eaten by another Adjuchas."

Ichigo raised a single finger mouth opening and closing for a second at the shock of the information before making a response. "So, what are the chances an Adjuchas will come through?"

Sung-sun seemed to ponder this for a moment before giving her equivalent of a shrug. "One in a million?" she questioned seemingly nobody.

Ichigo stood for a moment before nodding his head and agreeing. If the chances of meeting an Adjuchas were that low, there was a big chance that Sung-sun could get quite a few Hollows under her belt and he could get stronger with a lower risk, then he thought it was worth it.

"Alright," Sung-sun started, "I'll lead the way!"


	4. Chapter 4

**CH 4:**

"That is a lot of Hollows." Ichigo said as he looked down from the rock ledge he was on next to Sung-sun.

"It sure is." Sung-sun agreed, salivating all the while. "I count at least five hundred."

There were quite literally hundreds of hollows just roaming the clearing and just going about their business, and here Ichigo and Sung-sun were ready to eat them. Poor things won't even know what hit them.

"So, how should we do this?" Ichigo asked Sung-sun looking to her for advice.

"Hmm, well this is my first time attacking so many other Hollows at once so, I don't really have much of a plan." Sung-sun admitted making Ichigo's shoulders drop. "But I have a pretty good idea of what to do." Sung-sun made a comeback that reignited Ichigo's desire to slay some Hollows.

"At first you should just go about and disabling as many Hollows as you can, meaning, take out their legs in your case or paralyze them in my case." Sung-sun said as she showcased her fangs to him as they literally dripped with venom, causing Ichigo to shiver a little. "Sorry, I'm just excited. If we manage to catch a significant portion of these Hollows I'll be so close to becoming a Menos Grande. I can feel it."

"In any case, if you can't effectively stop them at the moment, at least slow them down so we have a chance for me to get around and paralyze them. Afterwards we can kill them all and eat them." Sung-dun finished before motioning for Ichigo to get on her scaly back to bring them down to the other Hollows ground level, as the drop was at least twenty metres down and the terrain a little rough

Hey, he may have jumped down double that before, but he was possessed by the voice in his mind. He had no idea how he managed to survive that besides using the hollow below as a shock absorber.

As they reached the bottom, a Hollow approached. This one looked like some kind of rat. Its physical size was actually closer to Ichigo's than Sung-sun's

"Hello there," he spoke in a kind voice, "we're having trivia later if you wish to join in."

"_**What!?"**_

Ichigo shared the exact same sentiments as the voice. Weren't the vast majority supposed to be evil or something? And weren't they supposed to be stupid?

"Uhhhh," Sung-sun was taken back slightly, "No thanks!" She cringed using a happy voice and closing her eyes slightly as a sign of trust.

"Oh well, just passing through then?" He asked rhetorically, "Good luck on your journey travellers!" he turned to leave.

The moment he did however Sung-sun lashed out bit him and he fell limp almost instantly. She then quickly scooped him up him her mouth and swallowed him whole then glanced around quickly to see if anybody noticed.

Throughout the entire exchange Ichgio stood stock-still and was incredibly shocked when Sung-sun lashed out and paralysed the rat thing and ate it in a fraction of a second. His jaw hung open as he looked at her as she looked back sheepishly after checking if anybody noticed. Thankfully for them none of the other Hollows had.

"Alright…" Sung-sun began, "after that short detour we can start our plan again. Just go around disabling as many Hollows as you can, we can eat them later."

The instant afterwards Sung-sun left Ichigo's side as she wandered off to a particularly concentrated area of Hollows.

All hell broke loose a few moments later.

"Run for your lives!" a cry came out.

"She's gonna eat us!" another cry.

Ichigo just took a moment to take everything in before he began running after a group of Hollows that appeared to be trying to escape.

Pulling out his now dubbed 'shield' thanks to the voice he struck out at the leg of a particularly heavy set Hollow and smashed his shield against the front of its leg causing it to snap and hyper extend, ending with the Hollow on the ground moaning in pain.

A particularly dark thought ran through his mind a moment later as he went up to the face of the Hollow and smashed its mask with his foot, the extra power used to break it could be seen in the form of green rings circling his leg.

Moving on, he ran forwards using the green sparks to accelerate himself through the groups of Hollows, particularly glad that the durability of these one was actually several classes below that of the ones he had already encountered. So as he went he used everything he had to break their legs, his feet and fists were the main cause of the crunching and snapping noises that could be heard amongst the Hollow stampede.

Their panic was unparalleled as they realised the original cause of the distress had an accomplice who was working almost just as efficient at disabling the Hollows as the Snake Hollow was.

"There's another!"

"Don't come this way! He's blocking the exit!"

That second one got Ichigo's ears to perk up at that as he scowled when he punched another Hollows legs out with his left fist, trails of green bursting out behind him in his wake.

If this was an exit, he'd better stay here as the Hollows attempted to escape. It would be more likely for them to pass through here and give him more kills as he went. Sure some would escape, but the vast majority wouldn't as a wall of disabled Hollow bodies slowly built up.

The only down side of Ichigo attacking in such a direct manner was the inherent toughness that all Hollows appeared to have in their skin. Ichigo suffered many scrapes and bruises against the toughened skin as he tried to break through the bone and cartilage in their knees and other joints in their legs.

However, being as full as he was with energy at the moment, his knuckles healed over almost instantly every time he lost a piece of skin. Any joints of his that knocked together also had their pain relieved instantly as energy travelled in abundance throughout his body.

Soon enough a wall of Hollows had begun to build up before him, and the smarter ones began scaling the walls of the giant bowl they'd essentially put themselves in.

Firing of a four pronged blade he managed to knock loose some of the wall the Hollows were scaling and cause a few to fall back down and collide with a meaty thwack. It wasn't a pleasant sound. Never the less, it was necessary for his strengthening and survival.

Soon enough, half an hour later at least, Hollow bodies littered the clearing either groaning in pain from having their bodies broken by Ichigo, or completely unable to move due to Sung-sun's venom.

Walking over to the giant snake his knuckles bled and his joints ached. Unfortunately, the high he had been on with his injuries constantly healing themselves soon dropped out after the first thirty odd Hollows were taken care of. He didn't stop however, and a rather impressive pile of dead Hollows could be seen littering the clearing. It was an absolute massacre.

Sung-sun sighed contentedly to herself as she looked around the clearing and took in the sight. Sure, these Hollows were nothing impressive in the least, however the speed and cunning required to take out this many without letting many escape made her feel rather impressed with herself and Ichigo.

"Well," Sung-sun began, noticing Ichigo approach. "I'd say we did quite well in taking out this many Hollows." She still marvelled at the sight. "Well, we better get started before someone comes along and steals our food or they begin to wake up." Sung-sun finished as she lifted a Hollow with her tail and dropped it into her mouth before swallowing it whole before moving onto the next, proceeding down the line of downed hollows whom were essentially all being eaten alive by the predatory female.

Ichigo nodded at Sung-sun's statement before moving onto his own pile of Hollows, bringing out his shield and smashing their masks before absorbing them completely. He too proceeded down his own line, however unlike Sung-sun it appeared that his stomach for spirit monsters had a defined limit and so he felt full after the sixth Hollow his shield consumed.

Finding a rock to sit down on, he found it almost comical how Sung-sun would sometimes pick up two or three Hollows at a time and attempt to cram them down her throat, only to succeed and have to strike her own chest a few times as they went down before moving onto the next one. Sooner or later he had to knock a few back down with how long it was taking Sung-sun to consume them.

It took at least an hour for her to finish them all the way she ate them.

"Are you sure it was okay that I took the rest of your kills?" Sung-sun questioned warily, obviously still unaccustomed to travelling with a human. Other Hollows would have torn each other apart at the mere mention of sharing food.

"Yes," Ichigo replied almost immediately, as if scared he'd be added to her menu, "It's fine Sung-sun-san. Really!" he finished with a smile eliciting a sigh of relief from Sung-sun.

"Well then, I feel like I'm about to explode so I think I'm pretty close to evolving now." Sung-sun stated contentedly with what he could only assume to be a smile underneath the mask.

Yeah it only took about two hundred and forty-three Hollows to do it. No biggie.

Ichigo's eyes almost bugged out of his head when he'd heard the number of Hollows she'd consumed in order to get this full. The size of those things was nothing to laugh at. How the hell did they all manage to fit in her body?

He guessed he'd probably never find out. He figured he probably didn't want to find out either.

"Really?" Ichigo asked her hopefully.

"Yes." Sung-sun stated, "I've never felt this way before, though I did know I was approaching something like it with each Hollow I ate. I felt just a little bit more full every time I ate another Hollow."

Ichigo filed away this little piece of information for later.

"Though I did notice you improving around the field." Sung-sun stated much to the surprise of Ichigo.

He figured she was just paying attention to how many Hollows she could paralyse.

"You were using those green flames of yours to smash through the Hollow legs just like I told you to. It was pretty impressive how you used them to strengthen your punches and speed yourself up." Sung-sun continued, trying to encourage Ichigo. "I wonder if those green flames will let you fly one day…" Sung-sun trailed off pondering in her thoughts.

Ichigo looked at his hands shocked. He hadn't thought of that. Using the green sparks or flames as Sung-sun called them to make himself fly…was this that air-walking technique she had talked about before?

"Well in any case, it was impressive." Sung-sun interrupted his thoughts, finishing their conversation about it.

"We better get out of here though." She warned him as she began to move out with him trailing closely behind her. "We wouldn't want to be caught unaware, and with the amount of commotion we caused I'm kind of surprised no one else has turned up yet."

* * *

A few hours later Ichigo and Sung-sun were making their way through the forest.

"Does it usually take a while before you come across anymore Hollows?" Ichigo asked Sung-sun.

Sung-sun did the equivalent of a shrug in her Snake body. "Hmm…sometimes." Sung-sun agreed with Ichigo's question. "The Menos Forest is a huge space and Hollows are eaten everyday here. It wouldn't make sense if there were Hollows as far as the eye could see."

"Ok." Ichigo accepted the answer. "But," Ichigo remembered something Sung-sun did earlier. "You sensed the two Hollows attacking the bird earlier from some distance away. Couldn't you do that again?" Ichigo asked earnestly.

Sung-sun blinked for a moment before realising what he was saying.

"Well, yes I could, but I'm not very good at it. It's often better to remember commonly used routes by Hollows rather than being able to sense them because of that." Sung-sun stated clearly to Ichigo. "You should probably learn how to do it to help keep yourself safe." She continued causing Ichigo to nod in agreement. "However…" Sung-sun paused for a moment closing her eyes. "I do sense some Hollows nearby but I'm not sure how many there are." She finished opening her eyes and changing direction once again.

"Where are we going now?" Ichigo asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Sung-sun replied. "Being a Hollow is mostly about wandering about and not being eaten while eating others."

"You did know where that Hollow hub was earlier." Ichigo replied matter of fact.

"Er, well, I've been there before." She replied uncomfortably in a suspicious tone.

"To play trivia?"

"…" Sung-sun just looked away and pretended she didn't hear him.

"You did play trivia, didn't you!?" Ichigo pointed at her smiling in triumph, though that smile soon crumbled only to be replaced by look of absolute horror.

"Y-you-you-you knew him didn't you?" Ichigo asked in a horrified tone referring to the Hollow that greeted them at their entrance.

"…" Again Sung-sun didn't reply for a moment, opening and closing her mouth a few times. "No…not him specifically, but I may have seen him before." She admitted completely unashamed but not entirely comfortable to bring it up when it could jeopardise their friendship.

"You knew people there!"

"Kinda…" Sung-sun replied, "But you know what they say, 'all's fair in war'."

"That wasn't a war!" Ichigo exclaimed. "We basically walked in and just decided to kill them all because you were…no, _are_ hungry."

"Eh, well, let's not be too specific here. You were hungry too and someone else would have eaten them eventually." Sung-sun broke off trying to defend herself and causing Ichigo to choke on some of his saliva. "Some of those guys and girls are…were real assholes anyway." She then looked at him and spoke in a singsong voice. "And now they're a part of me!"

* * *

_"Alright! Time for some of our favourite trivia!" The rat like Hollow announced from the top of an outcropping. Cheers were heard all over the crowd._

_Sung-sun stood there in slight confusion. Seriously, this is what these guys did?_

_Sung-sun shrugged to herself for a moment. "What's the worst that could happen?"_

_"First question," the rat, announced, "What is the name of the world we are in?"_

_"Oh, oh, me, me!" Some Hollow stuck up an appendage at the front of the crowd trying to get the rat Hollow to look at them._

_It took a moment, as the rat appeared to seriously look around for anyone else to answer the question. Finally he gave up and pointed at the Hollow at the front that had kept saying 'pick me' the whole time._

_"You there sir!"_

_"Heuco Mundo!" they announced with an inordinate amount of glee because they knew their answer to be right._

_"Correct."_

_The next question after that was about the Hollow evolution and then they went back to the various names and main locations of Heuco Mundo that just about every Hollow knew. New born being the exception to that rule._

_Eventually they cycled back around to the name of Heuco Mundo and that same guy at the front screamed 'pick me!' again._

_"Seriously?" Sung-sun asked herself, "They're just going through the questions again. Even worse, it looks like they don't even remember it in the first place."_

_"Hey, isn't this fun?" questioned a Hollow next to Sung-sun._

_Sung-sun just cringed and nodded before leaving the area._

* * *

Sung-sun shivered at the memory. Maybe not the best thing to remember.

"Still!" Ichigo cried out. "I don't think I could have eaten them if I knew them before I got there! What's to stop you from eating me!?...Rather, why didn't you eat me?"

Sung-sun stopped for a moment to think about how to word her answer. "I didn't eat you because I saw a young Human boy attempting to do his best to survive against impossible odds. The only way to do that is to become stronger." Sung-sun explained. "Though you may not have known it at the time, you were trying to survive to the best of your ability and had the potential to be strong if the way your abilities have increased over the past few days are any indication. That is why I teamed up with you." Sung-sun finished. "Well that and I didn't think you'd eat me the first moment I turned my back to you."

"So," Ichigo pondered for a moment trying to come up with an appropriate comparison, "Two birds and one stone?"

Sung-sun nodded in return at the comparison.

"For now though," Sung-sun began, "I think we are about to approach our destination."

True enough a few minutes later Ichigo heard the scuffling and scraping noises he'd come to associate with Hollows battling. Though, that wasn't all. Through a gap in the trees, Ichigo saw them, giant beings cloaked in black, spikes around their midsection and identical masks on all of their faces. All of which stood at approximately thirty metres tall with their hands limply sitting by their sides as they wandered aimlessly into each other and through the forest.

The main battle however was being fought amongst a small group of Hollows, all of which seemed to be relatively young if the way they were battling was any indication. From what Ichigo had seen so far, most Hollows used their special ability to their advantage and were nowhere near as animalistic as those before him. A trait that these Hollows in particular were missing.

It would be every third attack or so that these Hollows even considered using their special attack, such as darts that they could shoot from their fingers, or streams of acidic fluid that burned through the flesh of an opposing Hollow. It would appear that while lacking these traits in particular that they certainly made up for it in potency when their attacks did manage to strike. Ichigo could see another Hollow falling as its legs were burned off by an acid fountain that one of the Hollows shot.

Sung-sun herself was mildly impressed and also quite happy with their current situation. From what she could tell about these Hollows and the slight pressure that emanated from all of them, they were rather weak, though not to the extent of the Hollows that they caught playing Trivia. She wouldn't be able to defeat all of them by herself, though with Ichigo at her side it was certainly possible.

Nudging Ichigo forwards with her tail Ichigo looked up at her catching her nod. Ichigo then walked forwards to the battling Hollows, Sung-sun being right behind him.

Activating his shield Ichigo immediately flung a four-pronged attack at the Hollow that was currently trying to avoid a second acid shot, knocking its struggling arms out from underneath it stopping it dead in its tracks.

Sung-sun was up next as she sprung for the acid Hollow and bit it in the back instantly causing it to slump to the ground due to its low reiatsu level.

A few Hollows scuffling behind them instantly turned to face them when their downed enemies were taken out in a single strike. They all turned to face each other again and nodded before charging for the two. It would seem that 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' was a common occurrence when faced against greater odds than themselves.

Ichigo and Sung-sun moved swiftly, ducking in and out of the Hollow swipes followed by green sparks in the case of Ichigo and rapid bites and flicks of her tail for Sung-sun.

The two worked rather efficiently against the crowd of Hollows that had come to attack them, though Ichigo still failed to deliver instantly lethal attacks, he had gotten better at delivering debilitating strikes to his foes and amplify his usually weak hits with the green sparks he made.

Sung-sun herself used her powerful tail to instantly snap the necks of some Hollows when they strayed too close to her and bite others and cause their immediate paralysis.

All in all, it did not take long for the two to deal with the Hollows, though Ichigo and Sung-sun chalked this up to their strength increase with the continued experience and recent consumption of Hollows in the hundreds. Such a thing surely had to increase Sung-sun's reiryoku levels if not Ichigo's.

"Well," Sung-sun sighed to herself as she looked over their work once more, being extra careful to avoid the leftover acid the first Hollow she defeated didn't touch her. Some had touched her at the start and had done some rather nasty work in terms of eating through her protective scales. "I think, that's all for now."

Ichigo just nodded in agreement as he walked over to a few Hollows and absorbed them.

"You might even evolve into a Gillian now." Ichigo commented.

Sung-sun wanted to agree with him, but she wasn't sure. No one exactly ever told a lower Hollow what it felt like when they were about to approach and evolutionary barrier even though all the Hollows knew it was there.

"Maybe," Sung-sun slithered over to the first Hollow she would devour as her scales repaired themselves with her comparatively enormous reserves to when she first met Ichigo.

Honestly, she hadn't expected to grow so much in such a short span of time. Sure his help in killing the gathering of Hollows had put her further up quite a bit but she hadn't expected it to be so much. Was he some kind of walking growth accelerant?

It was either that or she was indeed close to evolving.

She chomped down her second Hollow, when she felt it, a slight tingling sensation in the pit of her stomach.

It had to be the evolution.

Moving onto the third Hollow, Sung-sun swallowed it, and then it happened. Blinding pain, by the likes of which she'd never felt and so many oppressive voices that wanted to drown her below them.

No! She wouldn't let them. Not when she'd come this far. So many other Hollows had tried to take a bite out of her just because she was a female and they expected an easy meal. For the most part that may have been true, she was weaker than them, and had run away at a moments notice. That was the first indication that it would probably be safer for her to team up with another Hollow.

It wouldn't be long until she found Ichigo battling a frog like Hollow, one she'd kept her eye on for some time because of her almost suffering an early demise due to the beast. He had fought bravely but he was going to lose, despite his will to live. It was then she struck the frog in its side and strangled the life out of the frog and drained whatever remained of its strength.

She had to thank the young human that had brought him down so far that she could finish off the job and eat him…though the eating never happened.

Voices swamped her consciousness, drowning out the memory that had sprung up. She pushed back, pushing out with her arms, using the human body she once possessed when alive.

Faces and bodies lay strewn around her in the endless abyss she had woken up to, so much so she wasn't sure she had actually been the one to eat all of them, and above her, a light that showed the Menos Forest's trees.

She had to reach it. Running clumsily she reached the largest pile of bodies she could find and scrambled up the slope as hands reached out to her from the mound of flesh trying to drag her back down.

She kicked at the wandering hands, forcing them back down and before they went searching for her again she scrambled up another few metres clawing into the eyeless faces and wrenching at them in order to make it higher and higher towards the shrinking light. They only howled an eerie moan as she passed them all causing her to cringe in return.

She didn't slow down however. She only sped up, urging herself to leave this place as quickly as she could before the transformation process could complete and she was lost in the darkness forever.

She tripped as a particularly strong hand grabbed her left ankle, and then proceeded to get tangled in a mess of limbs that weekly clawed at her naked body, scratching her skin and making her bleed.

"Come on!" Sung-sun cried out as she kicked the strong hand as hard as she could, trying to push the stinging sensation of the scratches her body now sustained to the back of her mind.

She succeeded. There was a snapping sound and the hand let go, fingers pointed at all the wrong angles. She didn't care however, nor did she feel any pity for the ones she had consumed before her.

Blood poured down her body now, causing her vision to slip and disappear as a particularly nasty scratch came down from her forehead and covered her right eye.

She was almost there now, not too much further. The light was getting closer, however, it was also still getting smaller.

For a moment she though she wouldn't make it, but she kept going anyway forcing energy into her limbs that she didn't know she possessed and moving even faster than before. So much so she heard a few bones of the tower of flesh break beneath her feet and more cries echo from within.

Taking one last step Sung-sun reached the top of the tower and gave a final mighty leap towards the light and off of the side of the tower. Her fingertips stretched out as far as they could as she arced through the air towards the light at the top of the world.

A second later her hand caught the edge of the shadow that threatened to cage her in darkness for all eternity. Swinging for a moment Sung-sun swung her other hand up and pulled herself through the hole in the ceiling before it slammed shut behind her, just managing to pull her feet through at the last second.

* * *

Ichigo could only stare in shock and panic as Sung-sun was enveloped in a glowing red light and her body grew in size. It was getting large enough to compare to the large cloaked beings that still meandered nearby.

Soon enough she was as tall as them, though the glowing had not yet ceased as it doubled in intensity around the head of Sung-sun.

"Sung-sun-san!" Ichigo called out to her as the light slowly faded away.

Did she become a generic hollow like she said could happen? So many worrying thoughts sprung up in his mind. Who would he talk to? Who would teach him more about Heuco Mundo?

Slowly but surely, the head of the enormous Hollow was revealed to him.

His eyes widened at first when the base of the mask was the first part to show through, looking like the base of all the generic masks on the clumsy Hollows nearby.

His worries were quelled however when the ripple like contours of the mask began to show through with slight hints of purple appearing above the eye line of the left eye. Soon enough the fan like shape of the mask showed extending above the usual boarder of the generic mask solidifying Ichigo's hopes and nullifying his fears.

The whole transformation process soon completed and Ichigo could see Sung-sun towering above him in a black cloak with her own unique mask on her face.

"Sung-sun-san!" Ichigo cupped his hands over his mouth calling out to Sung-sun before him. "Down here Sung-sun-san!"

"Ooooooh!" Sung-sun let out a baby like call with the tone of a monster as her mask tilted down to face Ichigo when he called out. "Ahhhhhh!" She roared at Ichigo as she stood back up to full height.

The moment she did she turned to face the generic Gillians and meandered over before biting into one of them even as they began wailing in instinctual fear causing the others around her to do so too.

They immediately began to scatter as Sung-sun feasted upon the first one, biting its head off in one fell swoop before grabbing the rest in her mouth and tilting her head back to let the body slide in whole.

Ichigo sweat dropped at this. Even as a Gillian, she still ate like a glutton.


	5. Chapter 5

**CH 5: 13th day**

Ichigo sat by on a rock outcropping as he watched Sung-sun devour another Gillian. It had been going on like this for the past few days and he really didn't have anyone to talk to anymore. To be honest, he was starting to feel quite lonely just watching as time passed by while he waited for the unique Gillian before him to evolve.

As it was, from what he had heard Sung-sun describe to him when she wasn't a meandering tower of black, it could take years before her next evolution happened. He really didn't want to wait that long…and try as it might, the voice at the back of his mind seemed to be suffering from Ichigo's own lack of enthusiasm as well and was performing a rather lacklustre job at keeping his wall of emotions at bay.

Looking up from his feet where his eyes had wandered to, Ichigo saw Sung-sun devour yet another Gillian, the last of the latest pack they had stumbled across…or rather the only pack they had stumbled across since she had first transformed. It would appear that Gillian were actually far and few between and they'd probably have better luck finding them if they weren't trying to look for them in the first place. Alas, this was the way it was.

Ichigo himself however, had some troubles himself every now and then when he had to hunt for the occasional few Hollows to sustain himself. Unfortunately without Sung-sun to help as she did against the stronger low level Hollows, things had been much tougher than originally anticipated despite his own developments. His shield now sported a healthy five bars when completely charged, though it drained him rather quickly when he fired them off so he found it better to stick to four or lower and try to end the fights as quickly as possible to increase his chances of survival. His ability using the green sparks hadn't increased too remarkably either, mainly using it to amplify his punches and kicks still.

Standing up Ichigo turned around and began walking off knowing that it was going to take some time before Sung-sun finished her meal and likely wouldn't leave until he came back. That was one thing that had stayed with Sung-sun, even after her transformation, her facial recognition ability and discerning whether or not it was a foe.

She'd already fried a Hollow with a red laser beam of sorts when she saw a Hollow getting too close to him when he was sleeping. The thunderous crack the beam had made upon erupting from her mouth had woken him just in time to see a poor low level get turned to ash.

Stopping for a moment Ichigo closed his eyes and focused on his own power, the warmth he felt within himself before expanding his senses and stretching them out to detect any nearby Hollows for him to devour.

It took a moment but Ichigo felt the cold predatory feel the Hollows energy made after a minute of searching and eventually left to go after the Hollows.

As good a time as any Ichigo deemed it time for some practice and so used the green flames to accelerate his journey to the Hollow he was currently after. Green lights raced through the forest as Ichigo made his way at a relatively fast pace while making sure not to tire himself out before he arrived at the Hollows location.

The moment he arrived he spotted the Hollow he was after, a giant lizard of some sort stalked its way up a tree. In all likeness the thing looked like a chameleon of some sort. Its likeness was proven by the immediate demonstration of its camouflage ability when it found a nice perch on the tree overlooking the forest floor below it.

Ichigo himself couldn't help but be a little amazed at the feat. He wouldn't have spotted it if he had just arrived a moment later and would probably be the Hollow's snack given the effectiveness of its camouflage.

Ichigo just walked out onto the path the Hollow was watching before readying his right arm and igniting the shield from the pendant he wore. The chameleon spotted him narrowing its eyes as he walked forwards yet again before firing off a propeller like attack at the chameleon.

The Chameleon, having been suspicious before hand was more than ready to avoid the attack and did so immediately with agility that Ichigo did not expect given the rigidity of it movement a moment before.

Nevertheless the Hollow leapt out of the way and landed on the side of an opposing tree before lashing out with its tongue in an attempt to capture Ichigo.

Ichigo himself just sidestepped the attack though not without scoring a light graze and being knocked on his back as the tongue made a curling motion in the spot where Ichigo was a fraction of a second prior in an attempt to wrap around Ichigo.

Ichigo, barely noticing the pain with the energy he was channelling into his body, got back up straight away and leapt after the Chameleon in an attempt to beat it to the punch of the next attack.

He did surprisingly enough; as the chameleon took a moment to rear its head back in a second attempt to capture Ichigo, Ichigo reached the peak of his jump and was right in front of the Chameleon's face as he lashed out yet again with a five prong attack and slammed his shield into the Hollow.

A cracking noise made itself known as a piece of the mask was chipped off from that lone attack. It wasn't enough however as the lack of solid ground to reinforce his attack and push against prevented him from applying a more devastating force.

Ichigo fell back to the ground as the Chameleon flinched in pain as its mask slowly rebuilt itself amidst their fight. Lashing out yet again with Ichigo falling through the air Ichigo used some improvised manoeuvre to get his five-pronged shield in the way to block the tongue off.

The force behind the strike however sent Ichigo tumbling off into the distance and prompted the chameleon to climb down the tree it was perched upon and scurry its way over the ground to Ichigo in an attempt to finish it off.

Ichigo however settled into an uncharacteristic smirk and watched as the Chameleons still camouflaged form made its way to him, the outline of the Chameleon still visible as rays of light bended around its form. Had it been still, Ichigo was not sure he would still be able to see it.

Readying another attack, Ichigo broke out into his own run and activated the green sparks around his feed to give him a speed boost as the Chameleon stopped and struck out with its tongue hoping to score a hit or wrap its tongue entirely around Ichigo.

Unfortunately for the Chameleon, Ichigo's reaction time had increased significantly since he first arrived in Heuco Mundo. Had this been day one, his fight against the Gorilla like creature replaced by this, his life would have ended then and there. As such, he sidestepped the tongue with mild effort as he continued on his path toward the Chameleon.

Arriving at the Chameleon Ichigo stopped suddenly and transferred as much momentum as he could into his right arm, swinging the shield forward that was then further accelerated by green rings of light.

The shield connected painfully with the Chameleon as tongue it owned was still retracting. The mask's jaw was forced shut on the incoming tongue effectively severing the piece of flesh, eliciting a howl of pain from the Hollow beside him now.

While many of the Hollows in Heuco Mundo could speak effectively, while not all with some level of higher intelligence, most often did not speak when fighting other Hollows when trying to eat them. At first Ichigo had wondered why…now though…not so much.

The reason being…

A grin almost split Ichigo's face as the Chameleon lashed out with a lanky limb in an attempt to bat Ichigo away even as the cracks caused by Ichigo's strike continued up the mask in this moment of truth.

He was having so much fun!

Ichigo leapt up and over the head of the Hollow, exhilarated by the dangers this Hollow possessed. Landing on the back of the Chameleon Ichigo lashed out again charging up the pronged shield in his hand yet again, causing it to glow an even brighter and more ominous red than before among the black bars that made up the core of the structure.

Before Ichigo came to Heuco Mundo, the mere idea of hurting people or things for fun was an impossible notion. Now that he was here though…the possibilities were near endless. It was as though merely being here had changed his very being. Gone was the happy-go-lucky smile he had possessed whenever he was with his mother and in came a scowl, though that was more of a thing that came from him thinking about things too much. Nevertheless his thinking and habits had changed so drastically from being in Heuco Mundo that he was not sure he could go back and be considered normal anymore.

The voice in his head didn't help much either as it always gave its encouragement whenever Ichigo wanted to kill another Hollow and even congratulated him and showered him in praise when he was successful doing it by himself.

Ichigo struck down, obliterating the mask that had begun its repair the moment the cracks had reached the edge of the mask.

Now that the mask was gone the Hollow screeched loudly and wailed before collapsing to the ground in a heap. Ichigo held out the five-pronged shield and waited, as the dead Hollow was broken down absorbed into the shield.

"_**Another good kill. Almost as good as yesterdays I think."**_ The voice congratulated him as the shield finished absorbing the Hollow. _**"Though…"**_ The voice paused, _**"I detect a disturbance nearby."**_ The voice spoke cryptically. _**"We should go check it out. It doesn't feel like a Hollow at all. In fact it almost feels like…no."**_ The voice seemed to growl at the end of its advice turned monologue speech.

Ichigo raised a curious eyebrow at the change in attitude from the voice wondering what in the world could have made it angry. The only time it had really been angry as far as Ichigo could tell was when Ichigo had used blood on his weapon for a second time.

"What is it?" Ichigo asked the voice curiously, though anyone else would think he was talking to himself it they could see him.

The voice seemed to hesitate for a long moment before finally answering. It was almost as though it bore some deep-seated hatred for what it could sense in the distance.

"…_**Fine. I guess since nothing is there it should be ok to check it out."**_ The voice reasoned with itself._** "Turn left and go straight ahead…"**_

* * *

"So this is where it happened?" A hulking figure asked a smaller, almost diminutive by comparison alone, creature.

"Yes master." The smaller creature agreed to the larger ones question, fear wracking its voice as it spoke.

"You say a white snake and a human…" it couldn't believe it was saying this, "came through here and eliminated a few hundred Hollows in one hit?" the larger figure asked seriously.

"Yes master."

"Even though you fought back as hard as you could, you were no match for these enemies so you escaped and never wished to return?" he spoke in a condescending tone.

"…" This was bad. The wording of the superior being couldn't be any worse. They didn't fight back at all, but if he said so, he would likely be killed, on the other hand, if master discovered that these two that attacked weren't as nearly as impressive as he made them out to be it would be likely that his head would fall next. Despite this, he lied anyway. "Yes master." The Hollow gulped. It would do well to escape when the superior's back is turned.

"Heh." The superior being said to itself in slight impressment. _"Whoever the two were that managed to take out this many low level Hollows while being one themselves and hindered by a Human at that is impressive…However."_

"I take it this being was very strong?" The superior being turned and faced the cowering subordinate scrutinising every change in behaviour of the lesser ones actions.

"Reasonably so Master."

Reasonably?

"What do you mean by that?" the being took a step forwards crossing its arms across its chest and narrowing its eyes in a very suspicious manner.

"As Hollows that do not require sustenance such as yourself master, we have not gained much strength in the way of evolution so our power has remained rather stagnant. As such our power was far below that of the sister Hollow that attacked and was on the verge of evolving." The Hollow explained in careful detail to his master.

"…" The superior Hollow tightened the grip of his hands on his arms, "You say you can tell if one is on the verge of evolution, and that it was a female." The superior Hollows voice deepened causing the subordinate to start sweating. "Why," the superior Hollow paused to add effect to its obvious anger at the lesser Hollow for leaving out this important piece of information until now. If he had known sooner he would have rushed here to kill them. Such an upset in the balance of power in the forest could be disastrous. "did you leave this until now to reveal?"

The lesser Hollow was now visibly shaking as the larger being bore down on it with its eyes.

"I did not think master would be angry since he is the most powerful Hollow in the Forest." The lesser Hollow stuttered out its voice changing tone to reflect its fear while trying to please its masters ear at the same time by speaking sweet words that promised he was the most powerful Hollow he knew in the forest, though that was not entirely true. There were others far more powerful than he.

"You thought?" the larger Hollow asked almost as though genuinely confused, though this did not confuse the lesser Hollow. The larger one knew it knew that its time was up. "You do not think! You listen and tell me everything the moment you hear of it!"

The larger Hollows arm swiped out decapitating the lesser Hollow in a single blow, completely unfazed by the effort required to perform such a feat.

"You will not disappoint me again." The larger Hollow said picking up the dead Hollows body in the hand not used to cut the lesser ones head off and promptly ate the Hollow in three bites before stalking off into the forest in the hope of confronting the two being responsible for the massacre before they became too powerful.

* * *

Ichigo followed the voices instructions and soon came upon a large wall of stone that seemed to run half way up the trees height before stopping and continuing on another plane.

The height of the wall was of no particular interest to him however. What was at the base of the wall was.

Approximately two hundred metres further along the length of the wall was a small cave opening that would not easily fit most of the Hollows Ichigo had seen in the Menos Forest. Rather it was the approximate size that he would expect of a human door to be.

As he approached he noticed markings along the stone wall that lead up to the cave opening. Claw and pockmarks everywhere, even what looked to be a bone sticking out of the wall at one point. Whatever had been here at one point had fought back against the Hollow inhabitants of the Forest.

It was while Ichigo made his observations that he failed to notice a blue light flash under his feet as he crossed a worn out line with what looked to be symbols of some kind. Neither did he notice he pendant glow a light shade of blue.

Beyond this point however, Ichigo noticed a drastic change in the appearance of the wall. The damage, the scratches and markings, they had all vanished without a trace. It was as though they couldn't get past a certain point and an invisible barrier was keeping all the Hollows at bay, well, until whoever was here left that is.

As he kept moving the irregularities kept increasing, strange markings dotted the ground, almost like those magic circles he'd seen in an anime he'd started to get interested in before he came here. The stranger part yet was, he believed that they had started glowing to some degree, or rather, were still glowing.

"_**The air here is soaked with reishi, almost entirely composed of it. It must be powered by reishi. To make matters more puzzling a normal human wouldn't be able to survive here let alone breathe."**_ The voice spoke up making Ichigo agree with its assessment. It made sense after all, except that last part.

"What do you mean a normal human wouldn't be able to breath here?" Ichigo asked in a confused tone, stopping in his tracks to listen for anything the voice had to say.

"_**The atmosphere as it is here is too densely packed with reishi and not enough oxygen. Not that I expect you to understand this but here we go anyway."**_ The voice began.

"_**Normally, a human would survive on pure oxygen alone, along with appropriate physical sustenance. A person with spiritual ability however is capable of fuelling most of their metabolic needs through reishi absorption when the correct situation arises. However this also depends on what kind of abilities this person has. Anyone like you for example would be capable of surviving for extremely long periods of time in an environment like this, though there is a limit however. To fuel such needs you need to constantly hunt and eat Hollows, even then that is not enough and eventually you will die of starvation or dehydration anyway."**_

"What!?" Ichgio was completely shocked. The voice was right, he didn't understand most of what it was saying, but he knew what starvation and dehydration were. How could he die of starvation if he was eating a lot of Hollows?

"_**You have been devouring pure spiritual matter Ichigo. That is not a viable long-term substitute for physical matter. Neither is the blood of Hollows for hydration."**_ The voice answered. _**"My estimates put you at around a year and a half at peak efficiency, three if you don't bleed anymore which is impossible at this point, more if there's something physically edible in that cave over there."**_

Ichigo was shaken from his thoughts at the mention of the cave again making him continue forwards. Still though, he couldn't believe that the voice said he'd die in a year and a half if he didn't find anything to eat. What if he couldn't find a way to escape by then?

"_No!"_ Ichigo shook his head. It didn't matter. All that mattered was there here and now at the moment. Sure the faster he learnt how to get home the better, but at the moment pure survival was all he needed, and a way to get Sung-sun more food faster.

Ichigo reached the edge of the cave in a short few steps from where he stopped to speak with the voice.

It was dark inside, incredibly so, he was lucky however, as his vision in darkened areas had gotten better ever since the first activation of the power he possessed.

Placing a hand on the doorway Ichigo received a light electric shock when an arc of energy leapt out at his hand.

"Ow!" Ichigo shook his hand as the stinging sensation dissipated. What happened next though caused Ichigo's draw to drop.

The entire cave system lit up as the symbols on the walls and mechanical contraptions he now saw whirred to life. Soon enough the light blue lights decorating the walls grew in intensity and the shadows of the object in the cave and himself were the only signs of the darkness that once was.

"Wow!" Ichigo spoke in awe, his previous troubles replaced by pure amazement.

"_**You can say that again."**_ The voice clearly hadn't expected this either despite the caution present in its voice earlier about approaching this place.

Stepping forwards Ichigo saw that the hallway he had entered immediately expanded to almost twenty metres across. Along the sides of the hallway were various doorways each with their own inscription above them, though Ichigo could not read the foreign language.

"_**German."**_ The voice answered the boy's unspoken question as to what language it was though a hint of a growl snuck through in its voice as it spoke.

"_**It would appear that the inhabitants of this place spoke mostly German, or, the governing authority was German."**_ The voice spoke up to Ichigo explaining why that might be so.

"_**Lucky for you, I can now speak German because of certain events."**_ The voice said to Ichigo causing his eyes to brighten somewhat. Now he could figure out what this place was.

"_**What in the world made you think I was going to read all of this to you?"**_ The voice asked Ichigo in a tone of disbelief. _**"I'm going to cram all the knowledge down your throat right…now!"**_

Ichigo winced as a sharp pain filled his head. He wasn't sure how the voice in his mind came to know German so quickly, but that hardly mattered at the moment.

Blinking the stars out of his eyes Ichigo looked at the inscriptions above the doors again and noticed that he could make sense of them. One that caught his particular interest however was the one labelled food storage.

Walking over, Ichigo was sorely disappointed to only see wrappers and empty jars left in the room, at least as far as he could see anyway. The storage room looked absolutely huge. He estimated that it went on for a few hundred metres and was at least a hundred wide.

He'd have to come back later. Food wasn't at the top of his priority list right now. He could come back later.

As he entered the hallway again he took a quick look around before moving towards the doorway that said 'living quarters'.

His approach was steady as he looked around for anything else he could read and noticed that just inside to the right of the doorway of where he was headed that there was a population chart.

"Twelve thousand, six hundred and thirty-seven…plus one." Ichigo read out loud to himself before his eyes widened immensely. There were that many people living here? Where were they all?

"_**My guesstimate says nine feet under."**_ The voice replied in an almost cynical tone to the boys query.

Ichigo frowned at the voices words. It certainly was likely. Given that there were supposed to be about twelve and a half thousand people here and he hadn't run into any, he'd say that the voice was probably right.

Ichigo decided that he should still look however and passed the sign, walking into the supposed living quarters. What he saw was nothing he didn't expect. Rather though, he was certain the room would be devoid of life, but wasn't sure what state he'd find the room in.

Beds lay side by side, densely packed together so that there were even small makeshift tables built into the ends of the beds where simple chairs stood. The architecture of it all seemed a little ancient to him. The design primitive, though neat and tidy, if the straw mattresses were anything to go by. The large silk banner hanging above the beds didn't help the case, though he did find the embroided pattern a little strange. The general shape of the small symbols he saw here and there were actually very accurate representations of his own pentacle. Though it was slightly out of date if the gem in his was missing from the image.

Whoever lived here could possibly be distantly related to his mother. Though as the voice stated before, as they were likely nine feet under, it was unlikely he held any relation to them and his mother merely found or bought the pendant at a store when she was younger and had had it ever since.

As he was about to leave he noticed something strange, a rectangular shaped object hidden beneath very old sheets on a bed a few rows back, almost out of sight really. It was almost through sheer luck he managed to spot such a thing.

When he arrived at the foot of the bed he gently pulled the sheets back to look at the object hidden beneath. Dust fell off the sheets that had turned grey with dust and revealed the almost pristine whiteness of the sheets beneath. They began to tear though the moment Ichigo tugged a little harder.

The object in question beneath the sheets was a book. How old he could not tell. Despite the fact that the sheets he had just moved earlier were torn to pieces by a gentle tug he reached out, picked it up and opened it to the first page.

* * *

_Date 3/4/1004_

_Der Kommandant has raised an emergency meeting for all Kapitän rank officers in Der Jagdarmee to assemble. As a Soldat however, I have no such privilege attending the meeting. There are rumors however. One of my close friends says that Seine Majestät has been defeated by der Shinigami Kapitän Kommandant. This would mean that our war with the Shinigami is over._

_I have my doubts of going home however as the Shinigami are likely to come kill us all._

_Date 4/4/1004_

_Another group of wandering travellers passed through Licht Reich yesterday. They accidentally stumbled upon one of the gates of the sun and made their way to Heuco Mundo. They, like many of the other travellers that made their way here are unlikely to return however._

_The Kommandant is merciful however, though I suspect it has to do with a little disagreement he has with Seine Majestät's decision to fight the Soul Society though he'd deny everything. He has spared the foreigners, though he has not allowed their return to the material world. Current daten suggests that they will never return, nor will we. The Shinigami are patrolling the material world last I heard. Der Kommandant does not want to pose unnecessary risks by letting the travellers back to the material world for interrogation that would reveal our location to the enemy and lead to our deaths._

_Date 5/4/1004_

_The Gate of the sun has stopped working. No one will say why but I was walking past the observation room where the astral projectors are and it revealed Quincy from the other side dismantling it!_

_The only way back known is through Garganta, but the only known to open such a thing lies with Berenice Gabrielli of schrift 'Q', the Question and the Hollows. We all know no one is going to approach a Hollow. So either method is out of the question._

_The last group to pass through the gate was another group of people whom call themselves 'Magi'. They claim to be more important than us. Clearly they do not know who we are._

_They have revealed themselves to be of a family I am unfamiliar with, Einzbern I believe they said, though it stands to say that Magi are unusually reclusive, though often willing to experiment on live test subjects if the execution der Kommandant carried out the other day on Bailey Walker, self proclaimed third generation Magus or something of the like happened. He experimented on one of the other traveller's children believing it to be a bastard child of one of the Quincy, dissecting the poor thing live and conscious. He was not recoverable._

_6/4/1004_

_Der Kommandant's example seems to have hit the Magi hard and they are now more forthcoming when being questioned by der Jagdarmee and appear to be less likely to perform experiments on anyone, especially once der Kommandant destroyed what the other magi claimed to be a 'magic crest' on Walker's body, the knowledge of magi passed down over the generations saved in raw hard form daten._

_7/4/1004_

_Panic has finally gripped der Jagdarmee and Civilians as they have been allowed to know that it is impossible to return to the material world now and forever more._

_A Jagdgesellschaft has been sent out in search of a habitable place to live as our food and water supplies will not last forever even with high level rationing. The regular humans and Magi are unable to sustain their energy on reishi for extended periods of time, though it is suspected that the Magi could meet limited success with the prospect after a lengthy stay here. I am also surprised that the other humans have managed to stay alive for so long especially given the strain they have been under for just trying to breath._

_Next week, two days from now, I make my own venture out into the wild of Heuco Mundo with another Jagdgesellschaft in order to find a place to live._

_Though he will not say it I suspect der Kommandant is just trying to keep everyone's hopes up in order to prevent them falling into sadness. Even I a lowly Soldat know that it is highly unlikely to find a material food resource in Heuco Mundo._

* * *

Ichigo stared for a very long moment at the diary entries he had just read. Some of it sounded like there was a war going on for some time…a thousand years ago. Other parts made no sense to him. Magi? Shinigami? Quincy?

What were they all?

"_**I don't know about the first one, but I can help you on the other two."**_ The voice seemed reluctant to tell Ichigo about it for some reason.

"_**That pendant you wear belonged to a quincy. They used artifacts like those to eliminate Hollows when they manipulated Reishi in order to quickly construct a predetermined weapon."**_

"How do you know this?" Ichigo asked curiously. He really wanted to know what all these terms meant to the world around him.

"…" The voice appeared to pause for a moment as though judging whether or not it was the right decision to tell him the truth. _**"I'll tell you when you're older."**_

Ichigo scowled before nodding to himself. "And the Shinigami?"

"_**People who dress in black shihakusho's and use swords to kill Hollows and purify their souls before they are sent to Soul Society or hell."**_ That appeared to be the last thing he was going to say if the tone of finality in his voice was anything to go by.

Ichigo's scowl deepened somewhat before he turned his eyes back to the last page he was on.

That last diary entry he had read appeared to be the last for some time as the next one appeared to be written roughly twenty-three days later.

* * *

_30/4/1004_

_Things have gotten worse during my trip away from der Jagd Kern. Hollows appear to infringe on our territory all of the time. It is only a matter of when we lose concentration and it is all over for us._

_Though, that might not matter anymore. During my trip in der Jagdgesellschaft we discovered a way to the surface and managed to interrogate a Hollow about Heuco Mundo. We did try getting it to open a Garganta for us but it did not. We eliminated it after gaining some rare useful daten._

_It appears that there is actually an end to Heuco Mundo. We would first have to travel approximately two hundred and twenty-five leagues in order to reach the border at its nearest point. It is supposed to be impossible to go past this point however, though we did not tell the other Soldat's or civilians. We will see though, Hollow's are not Quincy._

_I leave this diary here in case anyone find it. We are travelling north on the dunes. Remember, the moon rises in the west and sets in the east. The lunar cycles here are in opposition to the material world after all._

_You should also find der Kommandant's office. It may supply you with a map and other useful items. He often kept spares lying around in case of emergencies, however in order to travel quickly and efficiently we have packed light, taking only food, water, clothing and necessary equipment to fend off the Hollows. As such, some things should be lying around though I cannot guarantee their quality after lying there for who knows how long._

* * *

Ichigo blinked. There were no supplies left after all. Absolutely nothing.

Well…there was a map. But what good was that going to do him. If what the book said was true, then there was no way he could get past the edge of Heuco Mundo and escape. The best course of action at the moment would be to find any usable equipment and take it to use for his own survival.

Turning on his feet Ichigo knocked something over before hearing it hit the ground with a metallic clang.

Looking down Ichigo noted the silver coloured cylindrical canister next to his feet and listened as he heard fluid sloshing back and forth in the canister. Eyes widening slightly Ichigo bent down and opened it up and took a whiff of it.

His eyes immediately screwed up at the smell. It reeked of alcohol. No wonder they left this behind. Besides starting fires and destroying noses, this stuff had absolutely no use to anyone. Still, he never knew when he would need such a thing. As such he decided to keep it and the book he found.

Screwing the lid back on the seemingly advanced bottle for its time, Ichigo went to leave, only stopping to pick up a small teddy bear that he spotted sticking out from underneath one of the pillows.

Making his way out of the room he heeded the long since passed Soldat's advice and found der Kommandant's room and entered it. Inside was a well-furbished desk, carved entirely out of stone, along with a bookshelf, which as a bookshelf does, contained books of several titles, none of which he recognised. 'The Quincy arts: Something more advanced', 'The Quincy arts: For beginners', 'The Quincy arts: advanced instruction', which he could only assumed to be guides or factual books considering what he had just read in the diary. Then there were books he could only assume to be fiction 'In the league of death', 'The inverse moon', 'The telescope that is Heuco Mundo'…maybe not.

Regardless, he had to find a way to carry all of his things otherwise he would never be able to take anything with him.

Approaching a door near the back of the room he appeared to enter what he could only describe as a rather lavish bedroom with silk sheets on the bed and a gold embroiled bed head.

Walking straight past it Ichigo opened a cupboard and found what he could only describe as military clothing. Nevertheless, it was infinitely better than what he was currently wearing. Torn rags and bare skin was never a good look, especially in a harsh environment.

Reaching out Ichigo was immensely surprised and grateful when the clothes he grabbed did not immediately disintegrate like the sheets he had held in his hand not more than twenty minutes ago.

Pulling them down, Ichigo stripped off and changed clothes, though after finding the pants too long and the sleeves of his shirt dangling off of his arms he brought out his shield and gently pressed it against the clothing, carefully applying a concentrated dose of energy in order to burn through the fabric and cut the sleeves shorter. Thankfully it did not cause the fabric to light.

It also appeared that there was a belt and bright white trench coat with a blue cross on the left shoulder, included among the clothing so Ichigo strapped the belt around his waist and through the pants in order to keep them from falling off. He laid the trench coat on the ground next to him. It would be nice to use something large enough to resemble a blanket

Next in the cupboard appeared to be a simple backpack with a large volume to carry things in in the main pocket. The side of it however appeared to contain a large rolled up sheet of paper.

Unrolling it revealed it to be a map of the surrounding area, even the compound itself.

Rolling it back up, Ichigo placed it back in the side before placing the canister of alcohol and teddy bear in the largest pocket along with the trench coat.

Ichigo grabbed the last set of clothing from the cupboard and packed them into his bag as well, leaving his old clothes on the ground. Not like he needed them anyway.

Moving back out into the main office Ichigo began rummaging through the desk for anything useful. All he found was some paper and dried up ink.

Slightly disappointed with the few things he managed to gather Ichigo pulled the flap of the back over the top and put his arms through the straps and made his way out of the office and cave before beginning his long trek back to Sung-sun all while pondering on the small discovery he had made, his mind constantly turning back to the words in the book.


	6. Chapter 6

**CH 6:**

The large hulking figure made its way back to the den it had claimed as home in the desolate wasteland, careful to keep an eye out for any others of the superior species such as him. It was unlikely he'd come across any, especially given that most made their way to the surface once the second transformation was complete, however the chance was still there. Still there even though he and the others had a mutual agreement to deal with the Forest discrepancies together.

That wasn't what worried him however. What did worry him was the sudden appearance of this human boy and female Hollow. While, yes, that particular group of Hollows they slaughtered were no doubt going to be eaten sooner or later, the ones in question that did it were different from what he would have expected.

He expected a strong single male Hollow to come in and kill every single one before eating them all and continuing on his way to evolution. Someone with that linear path of thinking to get stronger would have suited nicely among his little group of friends in the forest, or even left it to go to the surface, completely passing them in the process and letting them live out their peaceful lives.

The fact that the Hollow in question was in fact a female and required a human boy to help her slaughter the Hollows meant that this outcome was unlikely. They would probably press on him and his group before going to the surface and attempt to eat them in order to become stronger. That's just the way things were here. Females were treated with no great respect and were often hunted for the ease at which they could be killed in most cases…in most cases.

He still remembers he came across that strange bipedal shark Hollow.

He touched a scar that went across his abdomen.

He barely survived that encounter by the skin of his teeth. That had been decades ago however and the females with such potential were far and few between as far as he was aware. Though that may be due in part to his own physical weakness. He had never been one of the stronger Hollows despite making it to adjuchas and would likely remain as one for all eternity.

As such, an encounter such as this could not be left alone. The weakness of this Snake combined with the weakness of the human boy made a strength that he could not allow. If the two became hopeful but did not overestimate their power it would be likely that they would eventually hunt him and the other lords of the forest down before they ascended to the surface in order to gain an upper hand.

He could not, would not allow such a thing to pass. Though, as two beings of such potential, the consumption of either, perhaps both, may be able to help quell the hunger he felt deep within himself. The fire still burned, and he yearned to evolve once more however unlikely that may seem to him.

If he made it in time and ate them before they realised their potential, it would make things a lot easier.

Flexing his clawed hand, he made his way into his den and sat down to rest. He would begin searching tomorrow. The sooner he began the better, though he had to make sure first no other Hollows were spreading rumour of the death of that lesser Hollow he killed earlier that day. Word would reach him within twenty-four hours from one of his informants if that were the case.

* * *

When Ichigo made it back he had found Sung-sun waiting for him as usual, though there appeared to be a slight change about her, almost as though she did not recognise him. He suspected it had to do with the change of clothes he had acquired. Truly, cognitive ability of a Gillian was quite low if she almost failed to recognise him in the face of different clothing.

The two soon set off however, Ichigo suspected his orange hair had to do something with it.

For now, the only goal the two held was to advance Sung-sun's evolution and make Ichigo stronger than he already was in order to stay safe and alive. If all things went well, they shouldn't be that noticeable to the slightly more intelligent low level Hollows.

* * *

Ichigo had changed in the time he had been here. His hair had grown longer, his complexion paler, and his body skinnier, and specks of gold littered his irises. Height however remained to be seen, though that could be contributed to the lack of nourishing physical supplements to make such a thing happen.

All in all, it was not a good look, especially with the way his skin scarred. Where he suffered major injuries white and pink flesh grew back, though he reattached any recoverable part of his body when he could.

The first time he had to grow something back was not when he was battling a Hollow, though it did happen straight after a confrontation with a Hollow. He had merely stubbed his toe after a battle and hadn't thought to look back for the now missing digit as he was clearly used to large amounts of pain by now and was used to it all draining away after devouring his kill when his body repaired itself.

It was an interesting experience to say the least, watching the bone sprout only to be surrounded by muscle, ligaments and blood vessels a few moments later. He had been sorely reprimanded by the voice later on after that particular event.

All of those changes though, hardly mattered to Ichigo at his current point in time. What did was the great view he was getting from sitting atop Sung-sun's head.

If he'd known how to get up here six months ago he would've done it from the very start.

Down below, he could see everything, even the tiny Hollows that scattered apart when Sung-sun stepped through the forest, wandering for her next meal. It truly was fascinating. He cackled as a particularly slow Hollow failed to escape in time and was crushed under Sung-sun's massive foot.

"Now what should I do today?" Ichigo asked himself as he stood up from his resting spot atop Sung-sun's head. Stretching out his arms and yawning in a habit he'd picked up earlier on in his first month of inhabiting Heuco Mundo Ichigo hopped off of Sung-sun's head and flashed down to the ground in a flash of green sparks.

Spotting a spider shaped Hollow off to the side of Sung-sun's path of accidental destruction he ran over smiling, eyes wide all the while, activating his power which had since evolved in his months here, transforming into a black cloak, a shihakusho the voice had called it, and a large sword that appeared to be made of shadows.

"Itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout…" Ichigo sang as he closed in on the fast approaching Hollow that almost seemed to shrink back in fear as the shadow like clothing rippled and writhed around his form.

Ichigo reached the Hollow, swiping up with his sword and jumping over the top of it Ichigo sliced through the hard carapace the spider Hollow's body was housed in.

"Down came the rain and washed the spider out." Ichigo continued the nursery rhyme as he finished with a downward slash on the Hollow drawing a spray of blood in the process that splattered all over the ground and made the spider collapse in a heap, seconds away from death.

Let it not be said that this is where the nursery rhyme ended. There was no happy ending for this spider.

Ichigo strolled around to the front of the spider, kicking it in the face as he drove his blade of shadows through the neck of the Hollow severing it in a single swipe, the razor sharp edge making quick work of even the toughened exterior of this Hollow.

Ichigo chuckled darkly as his sword then proceeded to devour the corpse of the Hollow allowing the feeling of the rush of power to course through his body.

"So it was you." A raspy voice spoke up from behind Ichigo causing him to jump slightly.

It was rare to come across others that would willingly talk to you after all, much less throw away a good meal when it was presented to them and they had a chance to take it. Ichigo had no doubt that he had become such a thing, a delicious meal that is, to the other Hollows of the forest.

Turning, Ichigo was slightly shocked to see the rather human stature of the being before him. His clothing strongly resembled his own current shadow like attire. The black pants and top made for a perfect Shihakusho. Though he was not sure of the fur like cloak that draped just over the figures shoulders and the many skulls that decorated it. The largest one being over the persons face to hide it or protect it. Many Hollows aimed for the head to finish their opponent quickly after all.

"Who're you?" Ichigo asked in an almost lackadaisical tone his smile drooping and his eyes narrowing somewhat, sword still in hand.

"A child?" The figure appeared to mutter to themself in a surprised tone.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed yet again. Another person out here? Knowing that he was just a child and looking rather human himself? It spoke a world of questions that Ichigo was not sure he wanted the answers to. After all, he had started talking to himself not long after Sung-sun had transformed into a Gillian, he wasn't sure if this person was the same. If he was he had to be cautious in case he became irrational.

It was only due to the guidance of the voice in Ichigo's head that he himself did not act irrationally and tried to assess the situation.

"What do you want?" Ichigo asked the figure, raising his sword slightly in an attempt to ward off the strange person approaching him.

It seemed to work if the way the person's shoulders seemed to slump slightly were any indication.

"How did you get out here child? Should you not be in Soul Society?" the figure asked trying to get some sort of bearing on the boy's situation clearly not knowing that this child had made it here somehow from the world of the living.

Ichigo's eyebrow arched in some small surprise before he answered. "You are from the Soul Society?" Ichigo asked once receiving a nod from the man before him. His brow furrowed, adopting his usual frown as he lowered his stance and raised his sword higher. "You are a Shinigami then?"

The man went to reach around himself for the hilt of a sheathed sword as his tone took on weariness to it showing his discomfort. "…Yes."

Ichigo was about to pounce forward the moment he heard the Shinigami's answer but stopped when a static buzzing noise made itself known the instant a large Hollow entered the clearing.

"Ashido." The hulking figure said as it approached the now named masked man.

Turning to warn the boy Ashido's eyes widened in surprise when he was already gone.

Shaking the notion from his head of a possible hallucination Ashido drew his Katana and faced the large Hollow.

* * *

Ichigo panted heavily with wide eyes as he tried to shake off the horrible feeling he felt when the Hollow appeared in the clearing. There was an enormous pressure that instantly pressed into his body making him lower to the ground. His first instinct had been to run away and he vanished, green sparks absent from his feet this time in an effort to be as efficient as possible with each movement he made.

It had red skin, a long tail and what appeared to be completely developed arms and legs unlike most of the Hollows around here that took on more animalistic properties. No, this one appeared to be on its way to be developing into a more human shape.

It had to be one of these Adjuchas that Sung-sun had spoken of when she could still converse properly with him. It had to be.

Stretching out his senses he could feel the one he had identified as a shinigami fleeing from the pursuing Adjuchas. Sighing in relief Ichigo collapsed to the ground his back resting against the petrified tree he had pressed his back against upon arriving.

That was a close call. If an Adjuchas was truly that powerful to make him want to fall to his knees under the pressure, then the being was surely powerful. He knew he was nowhere near powerful enough to defeat it. He would have to train for a while at a far more intense pace than he had been progressing if he wanted to survive for much longer.

* * *

Ashido Kano shunpoed through the parting branches in an attempt to lose the Adjuchas that was chasing him. He was a well-known phenomenon among the Hollow community at this point, having been in Heuco Mundo for just over two hundred years. His constant hunts for Hollows in his attempts to decrease the number of attacks in the world of the living being the only thing to keep him going much less sane with no one to talk to besides his intermittent encounters with the Adjuchas around these parts of the forest.

Hearing the branches smash behind him Ashido grunted in slight annoyance when he realised that he had yet to lose the Adjuchas behind him despite having done many times before for the past few decades. While he himself was not powerful enough to take out the Adjuchas single handed, he was certainly fast enough to escape it when the time came for it.

"Come here Ashido." The red Hollow called out as it leapt from another branch to chase after him in its attempt to end his life. "Surely you know by now the futility of escaping me all these times. You're going to die sooner or later. Why not let it be now?"

Ashido let out a slight smirk that showed beneath his mask further angering the Adjuchas class Hollow. "Now that wouldn't be any fun would it?"

"…No, I suppose not." The Hollow agreed with Ashido for once in its life. "However," the Hollow paused its speech as another booming noise echoed from in front of the Shinigami causing his eyes to widen slightly at the increase in speed. "Not only have you improved since our last meeting, but so have I!"

The Hollow lashed out with his large arm, barely missing Ashido by a hairs breadth as the Shinigami managed to recompose himself just in time to avoid the strike. He was not so lucky the second time however as the sudden improvised move left him unbalanced and unready for the second punch that the Hollow had lined up.

Instead he crossed his arms in front of himself in an attempt to cushion the blow.

It worked with some effectiveness as his arms were shoved against his body and he was propelled through the forest with great force.

He managed to regain his footing however along his trajectory path in mid air and flashed away with a shunpo, ignoring the stinging sensation left in his arms from the Adjuchas strike. He was lucky nothing had broken from that hit alone.

"Better luck next time." He said to no one.

Besides that, he appeared to be making a better escape this time as the Hollow could not track his reiatsu properly when he suppressed it to a lower level.

Another get away, another day to live…speaking of living creatures in the forest, he was still unsure of the child he had seen in the forest. Was it a hallucination? He had never had any before now, so the conclusion he had come to originally was probably incorrect.

If he followed that train of thought, there was indeed a small soul that had also been trapped in Heuco Mundo as well. The proficiency of speed and the clothing the child wore spoke otherwise however.

While no expert when it came to history, he certainly remembered the Quincy massacre that happened a little over two hundred years ago, and the clothing the child wore, while mostly concealed beneath what looked like a living shadow, looked almost like a Quincy uniform.

Ashido scowled. What was a Quincy doing in Heuco Mundo?

Shaking his head, Ashido continued on his path to his hideout. That was another question for another time. A time when he would hopefully meet the boy again so he could answer his questions. For now, he needed to rest and recover having been out Hollow hunting for the past few days and now suffering a light injury from the Adjuchas he almost had an all out battle with.

* * *

Since the Shinigami known as Ashido was being chased away by the Hollow Ichigo decided to do a little spying on the home location of the Adjuchas Hollow, or at least what he suspected the location to be.

Just before the Hollow had arrived he had sensed something on the fringe of his senses just before what he could only assume that thing was arrived right before him.

It had taken a little estimation, but after a bit of searching for energy signatures in the forest he noticed a rather large gathering of Hollows around a small area doing absolutely nothing. He would have assumed it to be another one of the meet and greet places Sung-sun had first shown him too, however that was unlikely given that the Adjuchas originated from there. It was likely that they were subordinates of some kind.

Upon arrival he saw low level Hollows just milling about and minding their own business. Upon further inspection, there appeared to be a cave structure in a giant rock outcropping, which was draped with rags that appeared to be made out of some kind of moss growing over the top of it.

From his current position, he couldn't get a proper look, and he really didn't want to get any closer as it was at the moment with how many Hollows were there. It was likely they would be able to alert their superior in the time it took to kill even three Hollows, maybe four if they were particularly incompetent.

Perhaps in the future he'd be able to take a better look when he was stronger and more capable. Right now it was most likely a suicidal task.

Ichigo's eyes flickered to his right. The Shinigami had escaped the Hollow's line of sight and the Hollow was now returning. That was his call to leave.

Jumping out of the branches of the tree he had hidden himself in Ichigo made his way back to Sung-sun. One day of surprises was enough for him.

* * *

Ichigo once again slew a weak Hollow with his sword of shadows. He never did quite understand why his shield had turned into a sword; perhaps it was his will for wanting a sharp object, perhaps not. Nevertheless, Ichigo was grateful for the weapon in place of the shield. It had made slaying Hollows almost infinitely easier than before. Rather than having to bash skulls in, he could end the whole confrontation in a few quick slices, provided of course the Hollow's special ability did not pertain to enhanced durability.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a hopeful Hollow preying on him and preparing to pounce, no doubt waiting for his guard to drop so it could strike.

Ichigo would indulge this Hollow just once.

Turning his back to the Hollow he could sense the creature making its way out of cover and slowly sneak up on him as he cut down another stray Hollow, though this one appeared to be trying to escape rather than attack. Even then it did not escape his blade.

The Hollow behind him pounced, almost without a sound, the only indication of its attack being the slight crunching of broken rock underfoot and the light snarling noise that escaped its mouth as it opened wide to receive him whole.

Ichigo stepped to the left in a flash of green sparks and swung his right arm up in an arc, severing the Hollow in two at its midsection.

Almost too easy really.

Despite still being ten years of age, Ichigo had adapted remarkably well to his environment and gained strength accordingly with his fights against the more predatory Hollows that often sought him out for his flesh. This of course however did happen to be a part of the voice's intervention, sealing off most of the traumatic experience that came with his mothers death. Continuing on after that it had carefully and sometimes not so carefully guided him to power.

Realistically a ten year old's body should not have such power to slay Hollows by the dozens with ease, though his strange power had closed that gap and allowed him to even surpass the low level Hollows by some significant margin now.

This could be seen now as he slew another Hollow that attempted to escape from his clutches.

Green circles encompassed his feet as he leapt forwards once more and killed the last Hollow nearby. It wasn't enough however. To get any stronger he would need to fight stronger beings. At this point only one such being came into mind. The Shinigami.

* * *

Ashido lay on his makeshift bed, covered in the strange green moss that grew only in a few known places in the Forest of Menos. The feel of the moss was soft and dry under his skin and made for the perfect resting place.

Now out of harms way Ashido had more time to think over the strange child he had seen in the forest. More than likely the child had been dragged through a Garganta from the Soul society during a Hollow attack, though that still didn't explain the strange clothes the child had been wearing. Had he found them? Were they his?

Questions he needed answered soon. If the answer was that the child had found them he could likely spare the child in the hopes that they could find a way back to the Soul society for the child to live out the rest of his afterlife. If not…he would end the child's life then and there. He had been one of the many tasked with exterminating the Quincy remnants two hundred years ago and as such he felt no aversion to continuing the mission he had performed before chasing a group of Hollows through a Garganta.

He hoped that that particular outcome wasn't true however. While he would without a doubt end the child's life if he was a Quincy, he did not want to.

…

Speak of the devil and he shall come.

In the reaches of his senses he could detect the child he had confronted earlier heading his way.

Sitting up and rolling his shoulders a little, he picked up his Zanpakuto from beside him and left the small cave he had come to call home in an attempt to meet the child.

Such effort wasn't required however as soon enough the child appeared before him in a flash. He carefully noted the green sparks emitted from the child's feet. Didn't the Quincy use a high-speed technique called Hirenkyaku? In that case, this child was definitely not a Quincy despite the attire he could now clearly see, as it wasn't swathed in a black fiery shadow. An inefficient Hirenkyaku he had seen many times, and those emitted sparks of iridescent blue, not green. Whatever this child was it was definitely not a Quincy…however he wasn't a Shinigami either.

Truth is, he had never seen such a high-speed technique, nor seen one as undetectable as it. He could see it, he was well aware of that, however, during his training with other Shinigami two hundred years ago he had noticed that before a Shinigami or Hollow would initiate shunpo or sonido there would be a slight build up of reiryoku before the movement. A highly skilled opponent could skip that phase altogether, but there was still an emission.

This however, besides the intermittent green sparks, released no built up reiryoku at all, much like the Quincy Hirenkyaku. Though he knew the reason for that in Quincy terms. They merely manipulated the latent reishi around them, displacing it to accelerate themselves using their reiryoku to assist in the movement of the displaced reishi. Not undetectable, but less so than a shunpo or sonido.

More questions were popping up by the moment. He didn't think the child with strange orange hair would be interested in answering them just yet though.

Hmm, perhaps he should remove his mask to try and not frighten the child too much. Living amongst so many strange creatures with masks that had tried to more than likely eat him on multiple occasions would not paint them in a favourable manner.

Removing the mask Ashido revealed his face to the young orange haired boy. He had pale skin from lack of sunlight over the many years he had been here and dark red hair that fell from his head and swept just past his eyes, though it was parted so he could see properly. His brown eyes narrowed on the brown and gold of the child before him.

Ichigo regarded the Shinigami before him silently for a moment and watched as he removed his mask rather than going for his sword as he had done before when he was about to attack him.

Forgive and forget it seemed… for the moment at least.

"Just what is a child doing all the way out in the Hollow home world?" Ashido asked Ichigo, trying to remain civil and somewhat light hearted in his tone of voice.

Ichigo regarded the man for a second. From what he had learnt of in his limited time here in Heuco Mundo, Shinigami slew Hollows for a living, and as great as that was in most cases since most were mindless brutes, Sung-sun had been a good companion in his time here and had promised to get him home once she had evolved into an Adjuchas.

"An accident happened and I woke up here. At the moment I'm just trying to get stronger so I can defeat an Adjuchas." Ichigo answered the Shinigami, careful as to not reveal too much.

Ashido's eyebrows actually rose at that proclamation. "And why in the world would you need to be able to defeat an Adjuchas?"

It was a fair question. The number of Adjuchas down in the Menos Forest was quite low compared to the surface. The actual need to be able to defeat one would only really stem form either revenge or the fact that one was hunting him down.

"If I'm to eventually find a way out of this forest and back home I need to be ready to fight against the strongest." Was the simple reply.

Ashido was slightly stunned for a moment. Find a way home?

Huh, he hadn't thought about returning home since the last of his allies died beside him when he arrived here. Instead he focused on killing as many Hollows as possible in order to reduce the number of attacks in the world of the living… He didn't deserve to go home. Not after he failed his allies so spectacularly.

"Really?" his voice took on a slight tone of disbelief. "And how were you hoping to achieve that?"

"For starters I was hoping that you could train me." Ichigo stated with a straight face.

As the boy was just a child he wouldn't normally agree to such a thing. However, given their circumstances he was oh so very tempted to say yes. But first…

"You should stay with me then. I could help better protect you." Ashido offered the boy his protection.

Now that he took a better look at the orange haired child he could see the thinning of the child's body. He likely hadn't eaten in come time. And judging by the way some of his skin looked, he had likely suffered some large amounts of injuries and had a rather peculiar way of scaring.

Ichigo looked slightly shocked for a moment, he hadn't expected the Shinigami to make such an offer. He was more experience in the, eat or be eaten aspect and travel around with a giant walking black cloak kind of thing.

"No thanks." Ichigo shook his head. He needed to stick with Sung-sun.

"Then how am I to train you?" Ashido gained a slightly puzzled look on his face at the boy's response. He would've thought the boy would've enjoyed some company by now. He knew he needed it.

"I'll come by once every day for training." Ichigo answered.

While an inefficient method it would work and he would have someone to talk to at least once a day. Ashido sighed as he looked at the boy's face. He could tell from the look he was getting from the child that there would be no way around it.

"…" Ashido seemed to ponder the situation for a moment longer before nodding his head. "Fine, as long as you return at least once a day I guess I'll know you haven't gotten yourself killed."

Ichigo nodded as well. "I'm Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo introduced himself to the Shinigami holding out his hand for a handshake. He only knew such a thing by watching his father when the owner of the Karakura Hospital came around every now and then to talk to his father and they would often greet in such a formal manner.

"Ashido, Ashido Kano." Ashido formally introduced himself to Ichigo reaching out to shake the boy's hand. _"Polite too."_

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ichigo." He continued making Ichigo raise an eyebrow. He'd never heard that following after a handshake before. His father and Dr Ishida knew each other rather well so they only shook hands and greeted each other with a 'hello'.

Well that aside Ichigo wanted to begin his training, so he drew his pendant and activated his ability before Ashido had a chance to see the pendant on full, though he did manage to catch a glimpse of silver.

"You want to do this now?" Ashido asked Ichigo who nodded his head in return prompting Ashido to draw his sword. "Alright, but I'd rather not do anything too intense here just in case we attract any Hollows to my Hideout."

Ichigo nodded in agreement, still not quite comfortable with talking to much to the strange older man.

Leaping away, Ashido looked back for a moment to check that Ichigo was following him. He was pleased to see that Ichigo was keeping pace rather easily by amplifying his jumps with the strange green sparks.

Deciding to test him a little Ashido increased his speed and transferred into a shunpo.

As he lead Ichigo further into the forest he constantly increased his speed until Ichigo could barely keep pace with him. He was impressed that Ichigo could keep pace as much as he had. He was currently using about half his max speed, and to see a child keep up that pace for some time was quite impressive.

Landing in a clearing, Ashido stopped and waited for Ichigo to appear and wasn't disappointed when Ichigo arrived a moment later, only slightly out of breath.

"We'll be making that run every time you come and visit." Ashido stated swinging his sword in front of him in a motion to tell Ichigo to prepare himself. "Now that I have an approximation of your top speed we'll slowly be getting faster and faster on each trip. Be prepared for what comes after however, I was never much of a teacher and I believe in experiencing battle to strengthen oneself. It worked for me so I expect it to work for you."

Ashido didn't give any warning afterwards as he stepped forwards and appeared before Ichigo in a shunpo stunning the boy slightly at the suddenness of the attack.

He only just managed to bring around his sword of shadows in time to block the overhead strike that Ashido used to initiate the spar.

Ichigo was however unprepared for the strength behind the attack. The sheer power contained within the strike made Ichigo's knees buckle under the strain and doubts begin to form within his mind. How in the world was he supposed to get this strong? Or even defeat the Shinigami?

The Shinigami Ashido Kano was using one hand on his blade while Ichigo used both, one hand on the hilt and the other on the blunt side of his blade to give extra support.

It was unreal. Ashido looked like he was barely trying.

This though caused a small smirk to form on Ichigo's lips despite the doubts forming in his mind. Maybe he could become strong enough to defeat an Adjuchas if he battled the Shinigami every day.

"I should probably warn you. Despite my many years here in the forest I have never once defeated an Adjuchas." Ashido stated causing Ichigo's eyes to widen as the pressure being exuded by the Shinigami promptly doubled and he changed the angle at which he was pressing against Ichigo's sword construct flinging him away with a thoughtless push.

If the Shinigami was seriously this strong and he had yet to defeat an Adjuchas he had a long way to go before he reached his level.

Ichigo skidded to a stop and leapt forwards to meet the Shinigami mid-air and strike. Ichigo clashed with the Shinigami and attempted to fend off the continuous strikes Ashido dealt to him.

Normally he'd find the most efficient way to battle him by using his green light to manoeuvre into better position and speed blitz the enemy, avoiding as many strikes as he could.

This wasn't one of those times however.

Ichigo leant back and parried a strike that went to sweep across his chest.

He needed strength, and avoiding the strikes wasn't going to do that.

Ashido backed off for a moment in order to allow Ichigo to get a strike in. Ichigo vanished in a burst of speed in order to catch the man off guard and struck out at the man's back suddenly.

He was surprised however when Ashido seemed to read his movement and placed the sword over his shoulder and down his back, catching Ichigo's blade before lifting up and pushing Ichigo back while turning around to face him.

The man was certainly more skilled than he let on. So far he had only made simple attacks, as though testing the waters, much like he had done with the speed run through the forest.

He was getting a better handle on it now though and was adding more and more technique to the spar as it went on, catching Ichigo off guard on more than one occasion and scoring light cuts, nothing more. He wasn't trying to kill him, just injure.

Attacking with the intent to kill would come later. For now a sizeable pressure and attack on the boy would do as he struggled to keep pace.

As he was the boy more than likely slew the low level Hollows with ease, though there was a rather large gap between them and Gillian power wise and if he were to even stand a chance against an Adjuchas he would first need to be able to kill a Gillian.

That was their main goal for now.


	7. Chapter 7

**CH 7:**

Ichigo leaned back and broke into a role before standing to his feet again, parrying another strike from Ashido as he recovered from the missed strike and yet again approached the boy.

The two had picked up the pace from the day before when their first sparring match was held. Picked up the pace would be putting it mildly however as Ashido seemed to flash around the battlefield doing his best to score any hits he could on the younger boy and press his strikes when they locked blades together.

Truly, the boy's agility was nothing to laugh at. If he were a Shinigami he had no doubt that the taicho of squad two would look into recruiting the boy on pure physical ability alone thanks to the quick strikes and evasions the boy made.

Against an opponent like himself however, he still had much room to improve.

"You're slowing down Ichigo." Ashido called out to Ichigo as Ichigo was pushed away and on the defensive yet again, panting rather hard due to the strain of keeping up with the Shinigami opposite him.

He was powerful, Ichigo would give him that. If the Quincy he read about were at war with them a thousand years ago he'd have to say that they would likely be at some level near Ashido's as well.

Ichigo attempted to nock aside the blade as it came straight towards him in a stabbing motion. He failed however as his sword was pierced straight through, leading to the tip of the Shinigami's sword sticking into his chest.

It stung badly as he moved off of the blade, watching as Ashido paused to watch Ichigo's actions. The wound was by no means deep, but having ones weapon broken like that so easily was sure to strike a nerve, possibly draw out some hidden strength that the boy kept tucked away and allow him to renew the fight with more vigour than before.

All Ichigo could do though was stare at the half blade that remained in his hand. Had the sword really been pierced that easily? He had never heard of such a thing happening before, but then again there were other things at play here besides raw material strength of a blade.

Ichigo glared at Ashido. The guy had been toying with him the whole time. Not like he expected the man to go all out from the start, but the simple action was like saying that he could crush him at any moment he chose to.

Pushing more power into the blade of darkness, the severed end regrew suddenly, sprouting in a small fountain of liquid darkness that sparked and crackled when completely regrown to signify such.

Ichigo dove forwards again using his high speed movement in order to get around the Shinigami, the lime green hue of sparks absent this time. He struck out, lips turning up slightly at the visibly shocked face of Ashido with his new speed.

He failed to hit the man of course, his superior reaction time and speed giving him the advantage. Nevertheless, it pleased Ichigo to no end to surprise the man with his next step in strength.

He hadn't noticed at first but when the green sparks were absent from his high-speed movement everything felt right. Instead a barely visible light green hue was the only thing that could be seen under his feet. He couldn't explain it, but it was like everything was flowing perfectly within his body and he used the technique to its utmost efficiency.

Restoring his lost composure Ashido made to strike next with a higher speed than before, strengthening his blow to the sword construct, slightly surprised when Ichigo blocked it and held his own with more ease than before, though still straining.

"Hmm," Ashido pondered to himself for a moment. It seemed this style of training was truly effective with the boy. He'd have to push harder.

Ashido vanished with a swish and struck out at Ichigo's midsection from beside him. He was pleasantly surprised when Ichigo twisted out of the way at the last second to avoid being skewered. What he did not expect was Ichigo's feet to twist up into the air and lash out with a kick while Ichigo's sword was interlocked with his.

The kick landed, barely, scoring a light mark against Ashido's cheek. That was all it took however as Ichigo's whole body turned while upside down, his blade on Ashido's to use it as the standing spot and continue his helicopter kick.

The second kick landed full force, courtesy of Ashido's own amazement at the child's quickly developing ability and the last second leap provided by Ichigo pushing off the blade he balanced on to get closer to Ashido's face.

Ichigo finished off by leaning forwards and landing on his feet as Ashido stumbled backwards before lunging forwards, sword pointing straight forward towards Ashido's gut.

Alas it was not meant to be the finishing strike as Ashido seemed to completely vanish in that moment of preparation and appeared beside Ichigo, butting him in the gut with the end of his sword.

Spittle flew from Ichigo's mouth as he was forced to stop by the pain attained from that last hit from Ashido.

"You did well." Ashido commented with appraisal, sheathing his sword. "Much faster than I would expect you to be with your current reiatsu level, and gaining mastery of the sword quite quickly, though I can probably give part of the credit to all those Hollows you must have fought to survive here."

Ashido looked down at Ichigo one final time before walking straight past him. "Come, let's have some lunch."

* * *

This was lunch?

Ichigo was not sure whether or not to believe Ashido when he said that the same moss he used for padding in his bed was perfectly edible. This moss however had not been slept on but grew on a wall nearby where they had their training match.

"Though I must apologise, it would appear that the moss that grows here is actually mostly composed of physical matter. A little harder for spirits like ourselves to digest, but nutritional nonetheless."

"_**Well, there you go. A food source that isn't decomposing spiritual bodies."**_ The voice sounded slightly impressed with the Shinigami's food source selection.

Ichigo's eyes widened at that. The real food he had needed to eat to survive had been found at last! It may be moss, but at least it was a real physical substance that he could properly eat to survive.

Grabbing a handful from the stone wall Ichigo stuffed it into his mouth and swallowed it almost instantly before going for more. It tasted horrible, but it sure was better than living off of Hollow energy for seven months. His stomach rumbled in what Ichigo could only describe as pure delight.

After his third mouthful however Ichigo could consume no more, feeling slightly ill from eating so much physical matter in such a short period of time after an extended period of time not eating anything.

"Don't go too quickly. This stuff may grow like there's no tomorrow but it doesn't mean not all of it can be consumed." Ashido commented as he saw Ichigo grab the first few handfuls and stuff them into his mouth before stopping altogether.

"Well, I'm done for now." Ichigo commented nodding to Ashido whom could only nod back as he went to take a handful of the moss before he ate it.

* * *

When Ichigo made his way back to Sung-sun, having long since memorised her spiritual signature he saw her yet again consuming a group of Gillian, causing the group to scatter. This always happened when she went to eat other Gillian. Despite them being all mindless lookalikes they had the instinctual urge to run away from the danger that she posed to them.

This time however, Ichigo decided that he would help contain the Gillian that tried to flee. Bringing out his sword Ichigo leapt into the air striking at the mask of one of the Gillian, piercing it but unable to completely cut through.

Forcing more energy into the blade it flickered and the red tone that glowed from the darkness shone off of the blade brighter than before, allowing Ichigo to drag the blade cleanly through its mask, though not without some large amount of effort. Strength that he could only pull upon one or two more times before he was depleted of energy.

His trip back had allowed a physical recovery to some degree, but his reiryoku levels remained about the same.

His plan worked however as the Gillian following behind this particular one turned around and headed back the way it came, lining itself up with Sung-sun and allowing her to consume it the moment she finished her previous meal.

She must have gone through at least a hundred Gillian in the past few months by now. How many more Hollows she needed to consume exactly he didn't know. It didn't matter either now with his new food source.

Propelling himself through the air he reached another Gillian, cutting this one down as well, straining his muscles to wrench the sword through the mask of the Gillian.

His feat of killing a Gillian while impressive to some, did not give the look of absolute ease that Ashido had shown him when he cut down three Gillian with a single strike each and with one hand only. Ichigo had to use two hands and push himself as hard as he could to achieve the same feat as the Shinigami.

He figured he could kill at least one more Gillian before his body gave in for the day.

Pulling his blade from the collapsing corpse of the Gillian Ichigo rushed to the one furthest away from himself and made one swing, both hands on either side of the blades hilt. He just barely managed to pull it through the Gillian's tough body.

All he could do now was rest for the night after consuming a Hollow to replenish his energy. Unfortunately the only Hollows around were the three dead Gillian he had slain just then so they would have to make a substitute for the regular low level Hollows that he would consume.

Landing on the ground he placed his pendant near the last Gillian's corpse and watched as the head began to disintegrate turning into black dust like particles that flowed into the maw of the Hollow mask that appeared on the pendant during the absorption, slowly followed by the neck and the lower body.

* * *

"You've grown." Ashido commented as he saw the orange haired boy appear beside him for their daily spar. He must've gotten at least two to three inches taller in his time here.

"Well, it has been five months since we first met." Ichigo commented, lazily swinging his pendant around in plain view, Ashido having already questioned the boy about the item once before.

His reaction was a little harsh at first, having drawn his sword threateningly and pointed it straight at Ichigo's heart, however once he remembered that Ichigo's powers could in no way be a Quincy's they left it at that.

Ashido blinked. Five months. Had it seriously been that long. He felt as though he'd only met the boy yesterday. Then again his perception of time would be different when compared to a young child. To Ichigo he imagined that it must have felt like forever.

"How long have you been here in the forest for now?" Ashido questioned the boy, realising that he had never asked such a thing when they first met.

"A little over a year now." Ichigo answered calmly. "Nowhere near as long as you."

Ashido chuckled a little. "Yes, nowhere near as long as me." Ashido agreed with Ichigo's statement. "I don't think any Shinigami has been in this world for as long as I have, much less ever been here."

Ichigo nodded in agreement. If he were telling a lie he would have sensed another Shinigami by now at least. There was no way that there was another Shinigami out here. Ashido had said traditionally missions made to the world of the living didn't go for any longer than one or two months at a time at the most. Extensions could be made but didn't happen often. The circumstances would be similar for Heuco Mundo given the danger of the environment.

It helped that two months after getting to know each other Ashido had shown the graves of his comrades to Ichigo. It was a little saddening at first but Ashido said that he knew his comrades would've wanted him to live on and so he had.

"Yesterday I heard a rather peculiar piece of information while running away from that Adjuchas again." Ashido announced drawing Ichigo's undivided attention. "He spoke of a human and a Snake Hollow working together. They were spotted together almost a year ago but have since vanished without a trace." Ichigo froze under the man's gaze and held his breath.

"He was asking if I knew the whereabouts of the two." Ashido nodded to himself in confirmation of the information he had just received from Ichigo's reaction. "I didn't answer of course and escaped as usual, but I couldn't help but wonder if that human he mentioned was you."

Ichigo steeled himself and set a straight face with his usual scowl. "Who knows?" Ichigo answered. "While unlikely, it isn't impossible for there to be another person here." Ichigo gave his alibi.

It was a reasonable excuse. Not like it would completely convince the Shinigami before him, he was sure of that. However, from their time together Ichigo knew Ashido wouldn't just up and kill a civil Hollow, especially if it was a friend of his. Ashido had grown a little soft spot for him over their time together, almost giving the two a brotherly relationship.

"So you're actually a human?" Ashido questioned causing Ichigo to wince slightly.

"…Yes." Ichigo answered reluctantly. He hadn't exactly wanted to reveal his true identity to the Shinigami but it had come out anyway through gossip among enemies.

"…"

"…"

"Very well." Ashido nodded to himself, more for his own confidence and self-affirmation rather than anything else. "Let's go then." Ashido finished disappearing with the signature swish like noise of a shunpo on the usual route to the training grounds.

Ichigo followed a moment after slightly stunned by the Shinigami's response.

* * *

The red Hollows fist smashed against a stone wall causing it to cave in.

"Damn that Ashido!" another fist hit the wall. "Always making a mockery out of me!" both fists connected yet again causing some loose rocks to fall out. "I swear, if it's the last thing I do I will end you."

Several nearby Hollows nervously shuffled on their feet as they watched their master fly through his fit of rage and destroy the surrounding environment with ease.

"You!" the red skinned Hollow pointed to a particularly generic looking Hollow.

"Y-yes master!" The Hollow cried out, his speech followed by a slight 'eep' noise as the red skinned Adjuchas stomped heavily over to him. "What is it that you need?"

The red skinned Adjuchas regarded the low level Hollow for a moment before confirming its choice and issuing orders. Picking up the Hollow he stared straight into its eyes promising a very painful death should he fail his orders.

"I want you to go out and find this human that has been hiding so well for the past year and then if possible I want you to bring them here so I can hold them hostage." The red skinned Adjuchas commanded the low level Hollow eliciting a panicked nod of the head.

The Adjuchas dropped the Hollow a moment later before it scurried off into the forest in search of a Human.

Surely the great Shinigami Ashido would come for a fight if he knew he had a human in his possession. It was in the Shinigami's nature to protect those that couldn't protect themselves, even more so when a live human was involved.

For now he'd set out again after the damned Ashido. Short and long term the runt had been proving to be a lot of trouble and he sorely wished to be rid of him once and for all. Perhaps he should call in a favour from some of the other Adjuchas just in case…no, doing so would only make him look weak. Weakness was a curse in this forest and it meant the death of you.

* * *

Teeth chattered, long brown hair matted against the back of its owner and a light pastel pink was streaked across a white background of the raincoat worn by the little girl holding her little umbrella in hand, still open, showing the intricate swirls of browns pinks and white on the clear plastic.

Her eyes darted quickly to the sides as tears threatened to break out from her eyes as she sniffled. At a mere eleven years old, this little girl had been walking with her father home from school frolicking in puddles as it poured rain while holding her favourite umbrella overhead. Before she knew it she had been swept off of her feet and thrown into a puddle. Water soaking into her hair and clothes, she stood back up and found herself here in this unfamiliar place.

It was so unreal that the girl first thought to pinch her cheek because she thought she was dreaming. Unfortunately for her, she did not wake up in bed buried beneath fluffy brown sheets. No. She was still here, in this stone forest, where trees glistened in the white light that broke through what could only be the canopy above her.

A gentle howl echoed throughout the forest spooking her slightly as she turned to face the noise. Though nothing was there, she imagined what was here would be much like the monster that hid beneath people's beds when they were scared at night.

Stepping carefully away from her landing spot, being mindful of the sloshing water in her boots, she hesitantly made her way to the nearest tree where she took her boots of and emptied them to make walking easier. Water splattered all over the ground and reflected the light to show her little scared face.

Truly, to be where she was must have been by pure mistake. She didn't belong here…

Staring a little harder into the puddle she had made from emptying her boots she noticed something amiss. Large glowing golden eyes accentuated by a mask that looked to be entirely made of bone and emanated pure evil.

_Crunch!_

The girl jumped from the sitting position she had taken on a stone root to empty her boots and broke into a quick walk away from the tree only taking a glance over her shoulder as she went. The moment she saw it however her heart sank and her face grew pale.

Some kind of monster was making its way down the tree and was coming after her!

She began running the instant it hit the ground, its sheer weight causing light tremors with each slow step.

It didn't take long for that pace to change however. The moment she was out of sight and behind a tree it broke into a run, the tremors picking up in magnitude and pace causing the little girl to pant and panic making her breaths come out as whimpering cries as she tried to outrun the monster.

It was futile however as the monster was soon upon her and scooped her up in its mouth between the teeth of its mask though strangely careful not to injure her.

She kicked and screamed attempting to free herself from the iron grip its jaw had on her petite form. She continued to do so until she could no more, simply too tired to go on. Though she did not fall asleep, she kept a careful eye open to watch where the monster was taking her.

Soon enough she could hear more howling in the forest, specifically from the direction in which they were headed. This caused her heart rate to pick up once more. She was going to be eaten by all these creatures with masks on their faces. She was sure of it.

Soon enough however and with a salivary plop she was dropped onto the ground in front of the largest creature she had ever seen. It's red skin and large muscular body emphasized the power this creature contained within its body and quite frankly the pressure she felt in the air around her was pushing her into the ground. She barely had the strength to look up as it gazed back into her eyes.

"Who is this?" it spoke.

"The human you wanted master?" The monster that had carried her here seemed unsure of itself.

"I was under the impression that the human that had been causing problems for us was a young boy." The one who seemed to be in charge responded. "Tell me," it continued in an unamused voice, "did you perhaps spot the Hollow companion of our young visitor?"

The one that had brought her shied away at the question, almost refusing to meet the eyes of the one in charge with their own. "No."

"Really?" The red skinned one asked in a sarcastic tone.

The cowering one interjected as quickly as it could. "Perhaps they went their separate ways after the Snake one evolved. We know that Gillian aren't all that intelligent. Perhaps the relationship between the two was weakened by the progress." He said clearly trying to save his hide. Even the little girl saw that amongst her raging river of fear.

The red skinned one paused in a moment of thought. "A logical conclusion…" the cowering one sighed in what could only be described as relief. "However, unlikely." The smaller monsters head separated from its body after a near invisible blur struck its neck splitting the body in two.

A fountain of blood sprayed as the pressure on the little girl died off. Hesitantly she looked up at the giant red skinned creature and saw it look directly at her.

That action alone caused her to pee in her panties a little as it reached out and grabbed the back of her raincoat and lifted her to eye level to get a better look at the tiny human that his useless servant had brought back.

She wasn't much to look at in terms of strength. The only power she would really hold over anyone at this point was the power of cuteness, but these weren't mere creatures that could be swayed by a little child's face.

The stare of the monster caused her to look away, though she wished she didn't as the moment she did she saw the other subordinates tearing the dead creature limb from limb as they wrestled over who could have what part of the dead monster and ate it. The sight caused bile to rise in her throat, making her look back at the red skinned monster whom dropped her to the ground letting her plummet two and a half metres before she hit the ground.

A sickening crack echoed from her right leg as it snapped at the shin, unprepared for the sudden weight that would be forced upon it from her fall.

She broke out into tears yet again while looking at her disfigured leg.

It wasn't long until the red skinned monster's tail lashed out and knocked her end over end because of her sobbing.

"Quiet." It spoke while sitting back down on the rock it had taken for a seat. "You will serve some kind of purpose before I dispose of you even if you are not the human I was after."

"P-p…" the girls voice cracked as she cobbed and stuttered, "Please let me go home." She tried to be as polite as she could, hoping such words of kindness would warm the monsters heart and allow her to go home to her father.

"No."

* * *

Ichigo pressed his blade against Ashido's determined to get the upper hand in their battle.

His plan worked as Ashido pushed back harder.

Vanishing in a burst of speed caused Ashido to stumble forwards a fraction allowing Ichigo to reappear and slice at his unprotected right side.

A foolish notion.

Ashido seemed to have predicted the boy's movements and had pointed the fingers of his left hand in the direction of Ichigo from underneath his right arm, hidden by his sleeve.

"Hado number four: Byakurai."

The streak of white lightening hit Ichigo's sword making it veer off course and only score a light cut in the Shinigami's shoulder rather than the debilitating cut that it would have made had it landed in the originally planned position.

Grunting in irritation Ichigo engaged in the sword combat once more, striking and deflecting when he could, if not outright parrying the blows that Ashido attempted to land before initiating a counter of his own. Every now and again though, the two would lock swords and struggle for dominance, careful not to slip as it could spell the end for either of them. Ichigo had learnt this the hard way when Ashido had almost accidentally severed his arm and left side of his chest once.

He had a large scar now, stretching form just below his left pectoral muscle to all the way over his shoulder and out the other side. It had healed surprisingly quickly considering that Ichigo used to be only able to heal minor wounds to any great effect. His severed limbs were another story. That was pure regeneration that had to be used to grow back the flesh that joined the two parts together.

It had taken a while, but eventually Ashido decided to start playing dirty and had incorporated what Ichigo could only assume to be magic into his repertoire of attacks that he would throw at Ichigo.

Ashido called it Kido, or demon arts.

If there was any relation between the name of the magic and Ashido, it was definitely the part about him being a demon.

"Hado number thirty-one: Shakkaho." Ashido called out another hado spell, this time during mid clash, causing Ichigo's eyes to widen as he tried to escape.

Red flames pulsed outward of Ashido's palm and encompassed the area Ichigo stood a moment prior, though he had not escaped unharmed.

Ichigo's left leg was lightly singed by the power of the strike. He only reason it wasn't a piece of charcoal being that he was currently donning his shadow like shihakusho. It had impressive defensive properties, some of which Ichigo had only learned of after battling Ashido so many times.

As Ichigo understood the kido Ashido just fired off, it was traditionally just a sphere of red fire that could be shot at the opponent. This strike had been different however, mostly due to the fact that it was a continuous stream of red fire that emanated from the man's palm while said hand still encompassed the hilt of his katana blade.

He didn't know if that was some sign of his level of skill or what not but it was definitely impressive.

Ichigo dove back in after the rush of red light passed him managing to make Ashido's arms buckle, his arm still extended from casting the hado spell.

Swiping the arm down with a flick of his blade Ichigo raised his back up quickly to slash across Ashido's chest, though he missed by mere millimetres as Ashido took a step back before moving back forwards and performing his own swipe at Ichigo's chest.

Having expected such a counter Ichigo was prepared enough to get out of the way in time, though not enough to strike back as Ashido followed through with a stabbing motion to his chest making Ichigo place his blade in front of his chest and drive the attack off to the side before he turned on his heel and attempted to follow through with his momentum and kick Ashido in the side with his left foot and then right heel.

The first landed on Ashido's exposed ribs knocking the wind out of him, the next missed entirely as Ashido followed the motion of the first kick as much as he could to reduce the damage before sidestepping and turning with a slash from his own sword scoring a cut on the underside of Ichigo's right foot.

Ichigo was almost certain the man had just severed a few tendons to his toes as he lost all control of them for a mere few seconds.

It stung when he landed back on the cut foot but it wasn't a problem a moment later as it healed over allowing Ichigo to focus on the fight and strike back only to be parried by Ashido and palmed in the chest, hard. Ichigo was launched back into the tree behind him, only managing to soften the landing because of his movement ability. Sparks kicked up from the soles of his feet as he struggled to gain a foothold.

He only completely stopped when his back lightly bumped into the tree. That was enough however as Ashido closed the distance in a fraction of a second and levelled his sword at Ichigo's jugular.

Ichigo was panting heavily while Ashido himself only sported a light sheen of sweat that had begun to accumulate over his brow.

"I think that this is enough for today." Ashido declared, pulling away from Ichigo and sheathing his sword. "You did well."

Ichigo nodded letting out a gasping thanks as he sucked in air heavily. He still wasn't anywhere near Ashido's full strength but he was managing to pick up on a few quirks that allowed him to land a strike every now and then. The first being that Ichigo trained mostly for agility and he likely had the Shinigami beat in the area for his size and age. The pure physical power and speed of the Shinigami though wasn't something that he could get past easily. His technique mainly consisted of wielding his sword in his right hand where as Ichigo appeared to be ambidextrous, allowing him to catch the man off guard on more than one occasion with his switching of leading hand.

The new combination of kido and increased reiatsu levels however brought the playing field back to square one. Ichigo only managed a few glancing blows while Ashido managed to score potentially crippling strikes to the young boy. The only reason he wasn't dead yet being his incredible healing and regenerative capabilities.

"Sure doesn't feel like it." Ichigo mumbled in response to Ashido's praise.

Ashido chuckled slightly to himself as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, you were starting to really push me at the level I was performing at before and I had to up the ante to press you even harder. Don't judge yourself too harshly. You're only what? Ten?"

Ichigo nodded in response.

"Only ten, soon to be eleven. See. Plenty of time to improve." Ashido encouraged him. He really liked talking to Ichigo when he had something to talk about. "Most Shinigami would be envious of the level of skill and power you have attained in such a short time."

"I guess." Ichigo agreed with Ashido's statement about Ichigo's increase in power.

Truth be told, he got way more from these sparring matches than he had ever gotten from defeating Hollows all by himself. It was to be expected really, battling a far more powerful opponent that could think and apply power to strikes when it mattered and pull away when it didn't. It would have taken forever and a half before he got to this level fighting Hollows alone.

"Now, I suppose it's time for us to head back." Ashido nodded to Ichigo motioning for him to follow.

Ichigo did just that, launching into his own high-speed technique, though the technique was a little sloppy due Ichigo's tired mind and muscles.

Ashido took it a little more easily this time staying beside Ichigo the whole way as they made their way back to the cave with a quick stop by the moss wall for something to eat, the green organism providing them with everything they needed, from water to food.

…

Ashido's senses tingled slightly at the new sensation placed at the forefront of his mind. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't a Hollow. No. In fact it almost felt human.

Ashido's eyes switched over to Ichigo to sense the child's energy as he ate the moss plant growing on the wall. Human with a hint of hollow. The same kind as the small signature that had appeared not too far off from where he had estimated the Adjuchas hideout to be…oh no.


	8. Chapter 8

**CH 8:**

Ashido didn't know how and he didn't know when but from what his senses told him, another human had made their way into Heuco Mundo somehow. It was probably just another freak accident like Ichigo's trip here but that didn't matter. The source of reiryoku he could sense was overflowing with fear and appeared to be right next to the Adjuchas class Hollow that he had been having a scuffle with for the past century. As it was, the person would probably be crushed to death under the Hollows reiatsu.

"Ichigo." Ashido turned to face the young boy.

"Yeah." Ichigo replied, mouth half full of the green moss that grew on the wall. "What is it?"

"There appears to be a slight problem. I'm going to need your help to deal with it." Ashido stated. He did not ask, but he did expect Ichigo to follow through with his request, that much was clear.

Receiving a nod in return after Ichigo swallowed that latest lump of moist organic material Ashido continued. "I don't know how, but I have detected another human in the forest near the Adjuchas Hollow." He told Ichigo causing his eyes to widen in slight shock. "Nothing too bad appears to have happened to the person yet, but I suspect it's a trap to lure me out. I need you to rescue the person while I confront the Adjuchas."

All Ichigo could think at that moment was, _"Is there really another person out here?"_

Ichigo snapped out of it a moment later, donning a scowl. He nodded a moment later prompting Ashido to smile lightly for accepting the request to help him.

Turning a moment later Ashido took off into the forest, Ichigo hot on his heel.

"Alright," Ashido began mid flight, "I'm going to distract the Hollow and you are going to sneak around the back and grab the person who is trapped there and escape with them. I'll follow soon after."

It was a risky plan. Ashido himself had said that he had never defeated an Adjuchas, then again, he never said that he hadn't held one off before. On top of that they didn't exactly know the Hollow's sensory prowess. For all they knew the human hostage was being kept near the Adjuchas which was going to make things a little difficult if the Hollow refused to budge from his position.

That was where Ashido came in however, as he would more than likely be challenged to a fight to the death by the Hollow. He would accept and Ichigo would sneak in afterwards and snag the hostage. That also depended if everything went to plan. How many subordinates did the Adjuchas have? Were they particularly competent? Was Ichigo fast enough to bypass all their defences and get the human out in time?

The answer to all of these would have to wait. There was not time for careful planning, at least not in the eyes of Ashido, or Ichigo for that matter. They had to rescue them no matter the cost.

* * *

The little girls eyes cracked wide open. She hadn't realised it but she had fallen asleep at some point during the night despite the incessant pain that ached in her leg.

Looking at it once again made the girl wince at its unnatural angle. Unless she got it taken care of soon it was likely she'd die of blood loss though she didn't know that. What she did know however was the unbelievably large swell of purple flesh that had made itself apparent in the short time her leg had been broken.

She heard a grunting noise and looked to her side where she spotted the large red skinned monster moving uncomfortably about in his chair. She almost failed to notice the multitude of monster creatures that surrounded her in an almost protective way.

"Just how long exactly will it take for the Shinigami to arrive?" The being pondered.

It was only a few moments later when she felt another pressure on her body. This one though, didn't feel as nearly as twisted or heavy as the one the red skinned creature emanated.

"Ah, at last." The red skinned creature stood from its chair, awaiting the arrival of the source of the pressure.

Just who was it that caused such a reaction from the creature. It almost seemed…happy that the foreign pressure was closing in, its energy slowly twisting into anger and malice as it approached.

"Yes," The monster said to itself, "Come and fight me!"

A moment later a lone person entered the clearing shocking the young girl at the beings appearance. He clearly wore a mask, though it seemed to be more of a decoration than the attachment stuck to the monster's faces. She was overjoyed to just see another person in the forest. Had they come for her? To rescue her?

Surely they had, otherwise he would not face the creature. It just seemed far too dangerous to otherwise face the creature with no reason.

The man wearing the mask and brown fur cloak looked over to her and then back to the monster. It looked as though he was just checking on her condition before he faced the monster.

"Let her go." The person labelled as a Shinigami said in a stern voice. It didn't appear he was in this for fun and games. He likely wished to hurt the monster that brought her here and broke her leg but was trying to get away without a fight. Even the little girl knew that this would not happen.

"You know me better than that Ashido." The monster declared stepping forwards, a sudden pressure enveloping the entire area pushing the girl to the ground and causing her to gag.

* * *

Ichigo watched the encounter from way above them in the treetops. He was so high up he was practically touching the ceiling. The reason for this, he wanted to stay out of the Adjuchas sensory range. The best way to do that and stay in line of sight was to get high up and suppress his power as much as he could, though it wasn't much considering he still had a fair bit leaking out. It appeared to be enough however, as the Adjuchas seemed to pay him no mind and confronted Ashido before letting out a torrent of reiatsu.

From where he was he could see the human hostage. They looked to be a little girl, though from his height he couldn't make out much more than the oddly shaped leg that stuck out in front of her…

"_Damn it."_

Her leg was broken and that made things a little more complicated. He had seen Ashido perform healing Kido on him in the past before he knew of his healing capabilities, Kaido he called it. He knew very little about it, though it may help.

A moment later Ashido appeared to engage the Adjuchas in single combat, immediately flashing into a better position to get a better strike in on the Hollow before his sword barely dug into the skin of the Hollow. Hierro Ashido had called it. The single biggest pain in the ass when it came to slaying anything higher than Gillian class. While the innate skill of each Hollow differed, it was more often than not that a Hollow was literally saved by the skin of their teeth rather than pure skill or ability.

Ichigo took this as his queue to leap from the treetops and free fall to the ground in the middle of the Hollow group to where the little girl was.

On his approach he began to make out more of the girl as he fell. She appeared to be in her school uniform with her rain jacket over the top and a brown pink and white umbrella off to her side. Her school bag was nowhere to be seen, though he supposed that she may have lost it or not had it at the time of her passing into Heuco Mundo. Whatever the case, he was about to reach her.

His sudden entrance only received a reaction the moment he began reaching down to pick the girl up bridal style, while being extra careful not to jostle her legs too much.

She appeared to be slightly panicked at first with the sudden contact, unaware of whom was touching her.

The moment she saw his decidedly human face she hugged him and pressed her face into his chest the moment he launched away from the Hollows that were too slow to react to his sudden appearance and subsequent disappearance.

He raced through the trees and something that felt like blistering winds to crash against her hair causing it to fly about wildly as the scenery passed them.

Slowly but cautiously she peered away from his chest and was amazed to see the world fly by them so fast even as they were moving on foot. Something like this was impossible, she knew that much, yet here it was happening. Surely it was a magic of some kind.

Looking up to her rescuers face she noted the pale complexion and gold sparkles that dotted his brown eyes. His orange hair flew about as he propelled them through the forest to a seemingly predetermined location, though streaks of white had made their way into the mass of orange, barely visible yet still there. On top of that a few lines marked his face with deathly pale pasty white streaks. Contained within were a few pink lines that clearly denoted the scaring of tissue.

In a way it spoke of his strength in the forest that she currently found herself in. In another, it meant that he had many near death experiences, ones that he must have barely escaped from. The context on some of them however failed to reach her as she didn't realise that most of the ones on his face were given to him by Ashido.

* * *

Ashido swung his sword with two hands almost managing to lop of the giants red hand as it came in to pummel the Shinigami into the ground. The score was lost however as the blade only made it half way before stopping, forcing Ashido to pull it out in time or face the consequences.

"Arg!" The Adjuchas roared in anger. "Damn you Ashido!"

A red ball charged at the front of the Hollows face as in its anger it wanted to be rid of the infuriating man as soon as possible. Unfortunately for the Hollow Ashido managed to shunpo out of the way just in time for the Cero to go roaring past him, missing by mere millimetres. He could feel the raw heat from the attack trying to burn his skin from close proximity alone.

Tapping back down on two feet Ashido quickly brought his Zanpakuto around to fend off a strike that followed soon after from the massive Adjuchas fist. What he did not expect however was for a conical shaped shockwave to launch out of the Hollows fist the moment it and his sword were about to collide.

It all happened in an instant. He wasn't really sure of what happened, but there was a definite flash of red to it. A Cero?

No.

Cero's weren't that fast. Not so fast that they could cross a gap in that amount of time. Nor could they be charged that quickly, not by this Hollow anyway.

"Haha!" The red skinned Hollow roared in victory as Ashido slammed into one of the fossilised trees after tumbling a good few tens of metres.

Ashido's entire chest had been torn open with that one attack and he was bleeding heavily, not to mention his shattered Zanpakuto lying still in his hand. It wasn't looking good. There was no way he was getting out of this without major repercussions…in fact he might not even be leaving at all. Well, he was a shinigami, and as such it was his job to slay Hollows and protect the innocent or something like that he guessed.

Grunting in a pained voice, Ashido rolled over onto his back and propped himself up on his elbows just in time for a stream of blood to make its way into his left eye effectively blinding it.

He could see the Hollow though, approaching casually as one would when victory was in the palm of their hand, all while swishing its large red tail side to side.

"You know Ashido," The Hollow paused for a moment basking in its own glory as it drew in a deep breath, "Even though those guys over there probably lost the little girl by now, I can't help but feel so overjoyed that I have finally been given the chance to devour you…Me! Of all Hollows in the Menos forest I have finally defeated the single largest nuisance there ever was to run rampant that wasn't an actual Hollow."

"Is that so…!" Ashido heaved heavily at the end of his sentence as blood broke out of his mouth and dribbled down his chin.

"I know so." The Hollow replied smugly.

"Well," Ashido smiled. _"Sorry about this kid."_ Ashido apologised to the boy that had long since left their presence with the little girl. "You know what they say…"

"…" The red Hollow paused for a moment to look at Ashido in slight confusion. "No, I don't know what they say. What do they say Ashido?" The hollow clamped one of its hands down on Ashido's leg, squeezing tightly eliciting a slight gasp of pain from the Shinigami as his leg was slowly crushed.

"Like teacher like student!" Ashido grinned as even more blood came out of his mouth and he began hacking violently in an attempt to clear his airways of the red fluid that slowly filled them.

That was the last Ashido said as the Hollows other hand came down upon Ashido's head and snapped his neck before proceeding to pull it off for extra good measure.

The Hollow then proceeded to growl lightly in annoyance as it ate Ashido's body.

If that other child that had been with Ashido truly was going to be in trouble it may have been better off to let Ashido live rather than finishing him off with his newly learnt move, 'Bala'. He would have led him back to the boy and he could have finished him off before he became a nuisance like Ashido had been. Letting Ashido go though would have been too suspicious at this point so he had ended things there.

This would spell trouble in the future. He was sure of it.

* * *

Ichigo froze for a split second on the branch he just reached before taking off again shaking his head.

It was at times like this that he was thankful for the emotional suppression that the voice in his head seemed to be doing. Even after all this time, the death of his mother still panged in his heart. This too now, the death of Ashido rang heavily in his mind. He could feel it pushing in his head and chest as though one or the other was about to explode so he could let loose his torrent of emotions and release a large amount of power and take it out on his surroundings.

Such an action however would only draw attention at this point in time, attention he could not afford. For that he was thankful of the voice in his head.

Unfortunately, the girl in his arms with the highly decorative umbrella seemed to notice and grew slightly worried from his paused action. The expression of worry did not stay on her face long as a moment later they touched down at Ashido's cave and entered before she was lain down on the bed of moss and stone.

Silently walking around to the foot of the bed Ichigo carefully pulled off the girls gumboots and placed them upside down beside the bed to let them drain better before taking a look at her broken leg.

To be honest, the thing looked really bad. Completely flattened at one section and bent forty degrees in the wrong direction in another spot.

Back in the world of the living it's likely that they would call for an amputation, as they would say it is irreparable. There was almost no way they would ever restore function to the girls leg ever again as the bone had been reduced to dust and the muscle to paste at the section where it had been flattened.

Fortunately, or unfortunately for the girl, depending on how you looked at it, she was not in the world of the living and even now such an injury was still reparable. Granted it would take time, but nonetheless still fixable.

"Does it hurt at the moment?" Ichigo asked the girl before him hoping she would understand.

She nodded numbly, still somewhat bewildered at the superhuman feats this young boy had performed. It was probably for the best as if she had been completely focused on her leg she would only be crying in agony.

Ichigo accepted the answer before grabbing her leg and pulling it straight causing a warbled gasp to come from the young girl before the tears began to run again and she shrieked in pain.

Ichigo winced somewhat at the noise. He couldn't very well tell her to shut up. It would only further serve to induce fear in the young girl. Instead he remembered back to when Ashido had used Kaido on him for the first time.

* * *

_"Kaido is pretty much just giving others your own reiryoku in a compatible form to restore their own as well as their reiatsu level and accelerating the healing process by taking manual control of the metabolic processes while using their own reserves." Ashido explained._

_"…" Ichigo tilted his head to the side a giant metaphorical question mark sprouting at the top of his head as he did so. "Metabolic…processes?"_

_Ashido sighed, realising once more that this was just a little kid with slightly more firepower to him than your average Shinigami. Knowledge wise, he was still a kid._

_"Uh, let's see…" Ashido said in thought, "How about this. You give them your energy." Ashido flaired a slight amount of reiryoku in his palm watching Ichigo nod as he followed along. "And then you think about healing them while pulling their own energy to the site of restoration." Ashido demonstrated again as he put one hand over a light cut Ichigo had received earlier and Ichigo felt his energy moving without him telling it to before new flesh grew over and replaced the old._

* * *

Placing his hands over the now straightened limb before pushing his own energy into the girl's leg while trying to heal it.

It seemed to work, if only slightly as the bruising seemed to fade slightly and bones began to reform after about fifteen minutes of non-stop energy feeding. Her leg was still a veritable soup of flesh and bone beneath the skin, but it was a far cry from what it had been not too long ago.

Ichigo himself however had tired rather quickly and was nearing empty. Fixing one leg on someone else's body sure took a lot of energy. Ichigo didn't think it would take nearly this much for him if he were to heal himself.

The girl, now completely silent was staring in somewhat amazed awe. This boy had used magic on his leg to restore it to near complete. It was incredible. She began vaguely wondering if she could do that herself.

"I have to go out for a bit to restore my energy before I can finish your leg." Ichigo stated causing the girl to look up in slight shock.

He was leaving her!? Here? In this forest filled with monsters?

"Don't go!" The girl cried out in a soft voice her voice raw from screaming. She didn't want to be left alone here. Not where she felt so unsafe.

Ichigo noticed this and shook his head lightly. "If I am to fix your leg completely I need to go out and get more energy. When that happens you can come with me where ever I go." Ichigo reasoned, "Until then, you are to stay hidden here. Don't make too much noise."

Ichigo turned and left not noticing the tears that began to run down the girls face again as he left and vanished without a trace.

* * *

Ichigo had returned to the top of Sung-sun's head as she yet again went on a feasting frenzy. She had recently discovered a hoard of indistinct Gillian on the fringe of their territory and was mowing through them one at a time, swallowing some whole and others by pieces.

Ichigo himself had taken his fill cutting through the masks of the Gillian with his sword of shadows, a task that had become considerably easier since he first began. He remembered the first time he slew a Gillian. It was near impossible, yet he managed to go through at least three of them before he tired out completely.

Now though, he could kill quite a few. His strength had greatly increased in his time with Ashido as his mentor, though he still wasn't at the point where he could cleave through one with a single hand. That man was still far above him in terms of strength when he had fallen to the Adjuchas. They really were worlds apart.

He had been here only a year and he could kill Gillian. He doubted many could make the same claim. Granted, Gillian are as dumb as they come, only really attacking when commanded to by a superior Hollow or when there was an actual person in charge of the mind of the great hulking constructs.

Ichigo watched absently as Sung-sun charged a Cero and blew the tops off three Gillian in a row before proceeding to consume them.

Come to think of it, it had been some time since Sung-sun had begun devouring other Gillian. When would she evolve? If he had to guess, it would probably be quite some time yet unless she came across another variant like herself and devoured them.

Standing up, having rested in place for long enough he made his way back to the girl he had brought back with him.

* * *

As Ichigo entered the cave he noticed the girl had fallen asleep from pure exhaustion. As would be expected from someone who was here for their first time. He had fallen asleep in a similar fashion on his first day as well.

It was only when Ichigo knocked a book off a stone bench that he caught himself staring.

Drawing his attention to the book on the floor he noted that it was the diary that he had found when he had discovered the Quincy hideout.

He hadn't found anything else on the thing so he had let it go, though he still kept the book around in case anything did turn up. The other books however, his vision drawing near them. They were quite interesting to say the least. Supposedly there were ancient ruins on the surface as well as a few artefacts to go along with them. 'The telescope' had shown that particularly well. Supposedly there was an ancient race that constructed a telescope that could see into the far reaches of space but had been long since abandoned.

Shaking his head, Ichigo brought himself back in to focus on the girl before him. He could worry about the wonders of this world later when nothing was trying to kill him.

* * *

Bleary eyes opened to an unfamiliar ceiling. The owner of the eyes then yawned, somewhat non-plussed by the sight above them. Perhaps they were daydreaming. After all who wakes up in a cave with a glowing orb above their head…?

Sitting up suddenly the girl gasped when she realised where she was before she hopped out of bed, completely forgetting the state her leg should have been in before she got up. It was in that moment she stopped to stare at her leg for the barest of moments before she raced to the entrance of the cave before skidding to a halt as a sheer cliff drop became apparent when she approached the exit. There was no way she could get down without severely injuring herself.

Taking a few steps back from the edge the girl turned around and walked back into the room, her face white from seeing the height at which she had almost fallen a few moments ago.

"Good morning."

The girl jumped on the spot screaming in surprise at the suddenness of the voice appearing behind her. There was just no way…wait, yes there was, he could fly, right?

Turning on her feet, the girl caught sight of the orange haired boy that had saved her the day before and then proceeded to use his magic to fix her broken leg.

"U-um, thank you." The girl said somewhat nervously despite the person before her meaning no harm.

"_She must mean the leg."_ Ichigo thought as the girl looked at him warily despite him saving her. "No problem."

"_**Quick, complement her."**_ The voice returned.

It had been gone for quite some time.

"_**No time to worry about that. Compliment her."**_

"I couldn't leave a pretty girl to the monsters for lunch." Ichigo said hoping to calm the girl down. Unfortunately she seemed to have only heard the last half of that sentence.

"They were going to eat me!?" The girl paled somewhat in fright. The mere thought of having become the monsters snack was horrifying to the little girl to say the least. In hindsight it was obvious but having the words put in her face like that was just so, so terrifying.

"_**Idiot!"**_

"Uh…" Ichigo was at a loss for words. That hadn't come out right. "But I saved you, so everything's going to be ok, alright." Ichigo tried to come back with a placating tone in an attempt to undo what he just did. "They can't hurt you here."

The girl seemed to calm down somewhat after that was said and done. If someone with super powers was here protecting her she should be safe after all.

"So," Ichigo began anew, "What's your name?" Ichigo asked the young girl. "I'm Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki." Ichigo offered his name first.

"My name is Neopolitan Spumoni." Neopolitan offered.

Ichigo did a double take just then. "Wait," Ichigo held up his hands shaking his head causing the Neopolitan to giggle slightly at his response. "You're parents named you after ice-cream?"

"Yes." The girl answered causing Ichigo to feel the sudden need to sit down.

He wasn't the only one in his known existence to have a weird name now. It was like a dream come true. After all, how could his parents have known he would be a boy if they wanted it to be a surprise? To name a boy Ichigo was nothing short of lunacy, or so Ashido had told him once, after all one meaning for the name and the most commonly understood was strawberry. Honestly.

And now here he was, faced with the living embodiment of the word that practically meant ice cream, 'Neopolitan', granted of course that the actual name of the ice cream wasn't spelt that way. Never the less, he had come across someone else with an equally profound name. Being name after food, and a fruit at that wasn't easy to some to terms with. But now here was the person who's name meant ice cream.

He could die in peace now, knowing that his parents did not in fact have a case of incredibly bad humour…Well it was that or their parents would get along swimmingly naming babies fruit or ice cream.

It was only a moment later when the girl, Neopolitan waved her hand in front of his face did he come back to reality.

Here he was basking in his righteous glory of not being the only one and there was this confused girl before him. Not to mention Ashido's death…No, Ashido wouldn't have wanted him to think of it as such. He would have wanted him to move on. That was the way he was.

"Yes." Ichigo responded to the girls waving.

"Are you ok?" The girl questioned rightly concerned with the apparent behaviour he had displayed just a moment earlier.

She didn't know?

Oh well, it's best to keep it that way, lest he suffer from someone's endless amusement.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just remembering something." Ichigo responded before getting back up from the place he had sat catatonically for about a minute.

"So," Ichigo began, unsure of how to start, "You want to know about where you are?"

Neopolitan nodded in the affirmative.


End file.
